Story thread · 2 reports / 2 sources

George Clinton expands his Afrofuturist universe through paintings, now on display in Chicago

suntimes.com · 15d · first reportShare

As a boundary-pushing pioneer of funk music, George Clinton imagined entire mythologies of beings from outer space. He encountered them, too. The pivotal moment occurred one morning in 1976, as he and bassist Bootsy Collins drove from Detroit to Clinton’s home in Canada. “We saw a laser light, right out of the clouds, hit the ground,” said Clinton, now 85 and living in Florida. A few miles away, that same piercing light struck their car, and dripped a mercury-like substance on the hood. Suddenly, it was nighttime, as though they’d sped through hours in mere moments. “When we got to my house, my daughter said, ‘Y'all look like you’ve seen a ghost,’” Clinton said. That experience is referenced in Clinton’s painting, “In the Daytime, Bobba!,” which depicts a white spaceship hovering over Earth and against an intense blue sky. It is displayed with other works in his art show, “ Mothership ,” which opened Saturday at Mariane Ibrahim Gallery in West Town, and remains on view through Sept. 5.