American Flag (Here Again)

By Gabriel Delgado

In this commanding collage, Cey Adams presents us with a sophisticated interweaving of American symbolism and the textured layers of our collective cultural narrative from the 1960’s Civil Rights era.

A predominately muted, black American flag has the vibrant vernacular of street art that melds seamlessly with the syntax of mass media and the iconography of African American culture.

In 'American Flag (Here Again),' crafted in 2024, the venerable Cey Adams delivers a potent visual disquisition on the multifaceted American saga. The flag motif, an emblem of the nation, transforms into a palimpsestic tableau, eloquently inscribed with the triumphs and tribulations that have shaped the country's psyche.

Adams' astute employment of mixed media is more than a stylistic choice; it is a deliberate historio-graphical instrument dissecting the fragmented strata (using the physical flag stripes) to portray the juxtaposed construct of American identity (a monumentally conceptual undertaking).

The canvas is a meticulously assembled chronicle featuring pivotal American figures and epochs: the valorous Muhammad Ali, the sorrowful journeys of slave vessels, the charismatic President John F. Kennedy, the visionary Martin Luther King Jr., the turbulent civil rights upheavals, the contours of the African motherland, the tangible legacy of its currencies, the Woolworth counter protests, the commercial depictions of African American fashion, and the intrepid Ruby Nell Bridges. Each element, interwoven with the rest, contributes to a narrative that challenges and deepens the viewer's understanding of the flag's symbolism and the nation it represents.

The selection of imagery is poignant and adequately reflects the 1966 sentiments of the Honorary Prime Minister of the Black Panther Party, Stokely Carmichael, who at a SNCC demonstration voiced: “One of the most pointed illustrations for the need for Black Power, as a positive and redemptive force in a society…is to be made by examining the history of the distortion that the concept has been given by the national media of publicity.”(1)

The piece serves as a testament to Adams' mastery in articulating a visual dialogue from mass media that explores and critiques the complexities of cultural identity and memory within the American experience; especially the African American | Black experience as seen through filtered media, while he celebrates the victories and losses.

"American Flag ( Here Again ) available at New River Fine Art. For more information call 954-524-2100 or email [email protected]

(1) Carmichael, Stokely; ‘Stokely Speaks: From Black Power to Pan-Africanism’, Lawrence Holl Books,1965,1971,2007; pg.31.