Puzzle of the Republic

2005. Latex paint on window panes. 7' x 20' Not for sale.

This was for a project with Downtown Evansville, Incorporated. They like when local artists do pieces of public art that look cool and don't cost anything. I guess they got half their wish, in my case. They asked for something patriotic, so I decided to dissect the concept of democracy as our country applies it. We start with the Rubic's Cube on the left... the puzzle of lining up a bunch of variables (geography, native populations, settlers, climate, etc.). Then, we have the curtains opening in the center (well, I tried to make them look like curtains). The maze, other than being one of my current fetishes, is obviously the continuing quest to go nowhere in particular. Obviously, history doesn't end (probably didn't really begin, either), so my mazes don't either. The darkness at the bottom (also indicative of opening curtains) has a small amount of yellow visual texture on it (Amber Waves of Grain?), to indicate that while the future is usually a little scary, great riches can be found when we bite the bullet and challenge our biggest fears head-on. Finishing up on the right is the "reward." I know it doesn't look so hot. I didn't know how to control the yellow on the first night I worked on this. It was cold, and it caused a strange dripping effect on the yellow. I think it looks cool close up, and I like to reward the viewer who goes to the trouble of walking all the way over. The basic theme I played with during the design phase was that the curtains, once shrouding the star (I know, we leave no overconfidence for anyone else in this country), become like the cape of a newborn superhero. Love it, hate it, it turned a few heads (too bad I'm not also a chiropractor). Enjoy.