David Moore is a visual artist and creator of TAR SNAKE, a series of paintings on paper, mylar, and linen inspired by the tar ribbons that fill the cracks in our roads by public work departments all over the country. The use of mylar, a new material in his work, becomes a metaphor for the smooth texture in film and photography and suggests overlapping gestures to retain the feeling of a double exposure. Red became a dominant color in the work after the election of Donald Trump, the artist's response to the violence and street protests associated with his election. Tar and blood red are potent signs of social and racial turbulence. Colorized tar strips are a comment on race relations in America, with allusions to the pejorative tar baby.
'We drive over black tar strips every day, just as every day the black person is ignored or run down. This is a comment on racial indifference, or worse, ignorance of the meaning of color.’
- from artist David Moore