Burger Downtown for Mark Clements
Mark Clements was released from wrongful conviction eighteen years prior; the meal was simply described as a hamburger downtown with mother, daughter and attorney. The painting includes glow-in-the-dark text about Jon Burge, a former police commander who eventually served four years in Federal prison for perjury and torture. Clements was convicted in 1982. Only sixteen at the time, he was tortured by police into making a confession. In 2009, Clements' sentence was vacated when court documents showed that details in his confession did not match the facts of the crime. These days, Clements is an activist working on prison reform. This first meal painting of a wrongfully convicted person is a collaboration with the exoneree, the Center on Wrongful Convictions and Julie Green. Private Collection.
2019
47 x 36 in.
acrylic, found fabric, sewing, cut up state flag, and glow-in-the-dark paint on Tyvek