#blackness

#blackness

Representing a career that spans genre and sound, Usher's ambition both challenges and provokes. Perhaps this is why the Atlanta-born singer continues to occupy popular culture, not only through his Grammy Award-winning recordings, but also across fashion and the fine arts, where he has emerged as a patron and collector. He identifies career as a collage. Evolution does not mean abandoning the past, but layering it, building new meaning atop experience, vulnerability, and history.

When Victoria Dugger encountered Jasper Johns' " Flag " during a visit to the Museum of Modern Art in 2024, she found herself contemplating similar ideas. The encaustic painting is one of Johns' most recognizable works and revels in ambiguity: although it bears stars and stripes, it's not an exact representation of Old Glory, nor is it solely a gestural, abstract work. Instead, "Flag" prompts questions about motif, material, and meaning that defy any singular narrative.