America 2001-2009

This project began as a relief print for a printmaking class. It is a linoleum cutout of Dick Cheney and George W. Bush. My objective for the project was to create a print based on the word "nominal." I applied that to contemporary politics, and used hierarchy to emphasize whom was being nominalized. These particular prints were test prints for my final project, done on a really thin, fabric-like paper. After a while of them just laying around, I laid them out to see what kind of shape I could get out of them, as I could not think of anything else to do with them. They were the perfect dimensions for a flag. I painted them with the appropriate water colors to make it more obviously a flag and months later finally sewed them together, to give it more color and texture as well as to emphasize, once again, the flag idea. I then cut two 2 x 4's in half longways and built a frame, spray-painted white on which to attach my "flag," which I did with a staple gun. I am extraordinarily pleased with this project. It also reminds me, due to the repetition, of my "37 Fountains," an obvious Warhol influence, though I'm unawares if Warhol ever segued into politics.

America 2001-2009
Mixed Media
36" x 24"

America (detail)

America (detail)

America (detail)