Edition of 45 + 5 APs
Signed and numbered on the front

Timed to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and (All) Americans, the artist latest exhibition with the gallery, Almine Rech Editions is pleased to announce the release of two new limited-edition prints by American artist Vaughn Spann.

In these powerful compositions, Spann continues his deep interrogation of American iconography, specifically utilizing the form of the U.S. flag to explore themes of identity, erasure, and dual realities. By layering symbolic textures, Spann invites viewers to look past traditional patriotic narratives and confront the complex, often fraught relationship between personal lived experiences and the promises of the American Dream.

Whose Home?

A curious thing about this country’s national anthem "The Star-Spangled Banner," is that in its first stanza (which is usually the only one sung when publicly performed) it poses questions. It asks the listener, “Can you see (by the dawn's early light)?” these stars and stripes, putatively a beacon for those who wish to be free of tyranny. It asks whether we can affirm that it still does “wave (o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave).”

Though a Black and Indigenous man — Crispus Attucks — was among the first to die for the American revolutionary cause that impelled the writing of Francis Scott Key’s anthemic poem, currently a White, Christian nationalist revanchist movement led by the executive branch of the federal government has sought to make non-White immigrants incidental to the story of this nation’s creation and subsequent development into a super power. For people who look like Attucks, can the flag beckon to a welcoming place?

Vaughn Spann explains he sought to make flag paintings “grounded in my understanding of home.” Being African American this understanding is fraught. His forbears are not native to this land. And yet, in his visits to the continent of Africa that is his ancestral abode, Spann says he found that “People are much more tribally attached.” There he was still viewed as different, not of that place, in other words, not quite at home.

With this exhibition Spann implicitly poses the question what kind of home does the presence of the flag herald. And might the home’s character be altered with an alteration of its flag? Spann argues, “As a Black American the flag is always jarring because of those afforded agency and protection under it, and for us who are often persecuted by contrast ....” Well, we can certainly see the flag, but it is not necessarily for us a symbol of hope. 
— Seph Rodney, PhD, Freelance arts writer, editor, and curator

This item is currently on pre-order, shipping: end of July, 2026