D E PA R T M E N T S K A L E I D O S C O P E
“‘Candyland’ is named after the board game, which requires no strategy. Players are never required to make choices, just follow directions, and the winner is actually predetermined by the shuffle of the cards. Sounds relatively close to the design of the American society we live in today. Only when you are a person of color, those cards are rarely ‘shuffled’ in your favor. As a black father of two beautiful girls, my responsibility is to teach them how to navigate the board, dealing them the best cards possible.” — Clarence Heyward
CLARENCE HEYWARD
CANDYLAND, 2021 ACRYLIC AND VARIGATED LEAF ON CANVAS 61 X 49 INCHES
THE SHUFFLE OF THE CARDS
BY CHARLOTTE RUSSELL
Clayton-based artist Clarence Heyward sees a parallel between the “Candyland” board game and black American experience, inspiring him to paint “Candyland,” which is on view until the end of September at the Contemporary Art Museum of Raleigh (CAM Raleigh). Heyward paints his daughters wearing striped dresses in the primary colors of the game—pink and red—transforming them into game players. The shuffle of the cards determines their fate, and without Heyward there to help, his daughters would be directionless players with no way to win. View Heyward’s work at his Anchorlight studio in Raleigh, on his website at clarenceheyward.com, on Instagram @clarenceheywardart and at the Turner Carroll Gallery in Sante Fe, New Mexico. Originally from Brooklyn, New York, Heyward studied at North Carolina Central University. His work has been shown at the 21c Museum Hotel of Durham, the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, CAM Raleigh and more. 144 | midtownmag.com