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Fever Within
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Not on view
In 1994 Ronald Lockett learned that he had contracted HIV, possibly from a female partner who is the likely subject of "Fever Within." This naked figure sits cross-legged on a small scrap of fabric that seems to hover against an empty background, evoking isolation and loneliness. The crosslike composition suggests both a window frame—and the sensation of being trapped inside or outside—and the potential of spiritual salvation.
Not long before dying from AIDS-related pneumonia, Lockett expressed his thoughts regarding his own mortality: “If it would end today or tomorrow, I just try to do the best I can do, keeping my art honest and coming from my heart. It’s like the last few minutes of a basketball game when the clock is ticking and you’ve got to shoot, you just want to nail it like. It means so much to show ’em you can do it.”
- Artist
- Ronald Lockett
- Title
- Fever Within
- Date
- 1995
- Object Type
- Painting
- Medium
- Found tin, colored pencil, and nails on wood
- Dimensions
- Object: 66 1/2 x 30 in. (168.9 x 76.2 cm)
- Credit Line
- Museum purchase, American Art Trust Fund, and gift of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation from the William S. Arnett Collection
- Accession Number
- 2017.1.38