Morse -- The Old House of Representatives

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Clarke here reinterprets The Old House of Representatives (1822) by American artist and inventor Samuel F. B. Morse. This work was made by spraying diluted oil paint through stencils cut by the artist, a method influenced by Warhol’s use of screenprinting (see his Brillo Boxes in this gallery). Like Warhol, Clarke chose “readymade” subject matter. Both Morse’s and Clarke’s paintings contain almost the same image but their subjects are different. Morse was showing the practice of democracy, while Clarke explores how transforming an image changes its meaning.

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