July 1 Art Minute: George Segal, The Red Light
George Segal (American, 1924-2000) The Red Light. Plaster and mixed media, 1972. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund, 1974.22
A commentary on solitary urban existence, George Segal's life-size assemblage of found objects and a plaster cast features a lonely figure of a middle-aged man in a rumpled coat slowly crossing the street in front of a looming truck that waits for the red light to change. Seemingly disengaged from his immediate surroundings, the silent and introspective figure appears psychologically isolated.
This work is currently on view in the exhibition Life Is a Highway: Art and American Car Culture.