This is about regrets
Date2002
Mediumchalk and slate paint on panel
Dimensions28 × 20 × 1 inches (71.1 × 50.8 × 2.5 cm)
Credit LineGift of Arthur Bennett Kouwenhoven, Jr.
Object number2009.19.43
Copyright© Michael Scoggins.
The images and text contained on this page are owned by Telfair Museums or used by the Museum with permission from the owners. Unauthorized reproduction, transmission or display of these materials is prohibited with the exception of items deemed “fair use” as defined by U.S. and international copyright laws.Label TextMichael Scoggins’s alter-ego Michael S. produces work with the fanciful and imaginative explorations of a child, often on materials related to school such as spiral bound notebook pages or chalkboards. The diptych This is about passion and This is about regret represents Scoggins’s transition from the openness of a child to the concealed narrative of being an adult. Whereas each chalkboard once held entire paragraphs of information, they have been erased to one trite phrase instead. Scoggins writes that “Memories are shaped by experience but change over time. As the surface of a chalkboard is built up layer after layer, the original intentions may shift or be lost completely. There’s no one true memory but a collection of ideas much like the surface of a chalkboard. Nothing is permanent and chalk is the perfect medium to explore what we perceive to be the past while we live in the present.”
