Title:
Central Avenue
Creator/Contributor:
Philip Guston (artist)
Date:
1969
Identifier:
1985.54
Format:
oil on canvas
Guston paints two hooded, cigar-smoking figures driving in a jalopy with what appear to be a crudely made cross and two guns.
The apparent allusion to the Ku Klux Klan is made more ominous by the shadow under the car, which indicates that it is "High
Noon," a time that has become synonymous with the final showdown. Guston's cartoony, childlike style adds an ironic dimension
suggesting, perhaps, that such features of our society as the Ku Klux Klan are as absurd as they are menacing.