Verdict

June Wayne
Tapestry
73¾ X 117½ in.
Cotton, wool, and wool with additional fibers
Logo of weaver in lower left corner. Woven by Giselle Glaudin-Brivet (born 1943) at Atelier Giselle Glaudin-Brivet, Aubusson.
Number 1/5 (two examples extant), 1972

EXHIBITIONS
Fullerton Museum Center, 2024; MB Abram Galleries, 2018; David Richard Gallery, Santa Fe, 2013; Art Institute of Chicago, 2010; Pomona College, 1978; Fresno Art Museum, 1988; Franco-American Institute, 1978; Rubicon Gallery, 1977; Die Internationale Kunstmesse, 1976; Van Doren Gallery, 1976; Galerie La Demeure, 1974; Van Doren Gallery; 1974; Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, 1973.

COMMENTS
This tapestry makes reference to our genetic verdict. The DNA necklace in the upper quadrant complements the series of Xs in the lower section “the spine of the double helix structure of the DNA molecule.” In Verdict Wayne reflects as to how our genetic codes influence us “even as we are experiencing ecstasy or disaster.”

Wayne states with some irony: “We think we know a lot about ourselves, including insights into our own molecules. We even try to manipulate them.”

“I was fascinated by the genes total indifference to the individual, that we are the combination of predetermined accidents. We don’t know how those genes are going to behave, how long they will behave well, or badly, or which one is damaged, and so on. The paradox of knowing that much about ourselves, yet nonetheless being at the mercy of this system of molecules was very much in my mind.”

—June Wayne from “A Catalogue Raisonné 1936-2006, June Wayne - The Art of Everything” by Robert P. Conway.

This tapestry was based on Wayne’s earlier lithographs Verdict, States I and II.