ANTHEM Painting

This piece (and this series) is a massive departure for me in terms of style and approach. But feeling compelled by the dynamics tearing our nation in two, I knew I needed to express them, even though I had no idea what I was doing or where this spontaneously born series would go. Outside of my studio in downtown Los Angeles, I laid the piece out covering it with the gunpowder. It's an element that one cannot control as can be seen in the video. The second to last burst of fire is the dead center burst between the two impotent shotguns. Having no idea what to title the piece up until then, I looked at the starbursts covering the sky once the smoke cleared and head the word "Anthem." I then wove the same colors from the works "Ten to Midnight" and "The Nine" for all of the obvious reasons. Long ago the philosopher Georg Hegel proposed that there is only one "State" expressing itself in two opposing sides to keep people enslaved to that state through constant division. "...the State 'has the supreme right against the individual, whose supreme duty is to be a member of the State... for the right of the world spirit is above all special privileges.' "The Hegelian dialectic is the ridiculous idea that constant conflict and continual merging of opposite ideologies, as established by extreme right or left belief systems, will lead spiritual mankind into final perfection. (Americans understood man's spiritual quests to be outside the realm of government control). Hegel's brilliance rests in his ability to confuse and obfuscate the true motives of the planners, and millions of people world-wide have been trying to make sense of why it doesn't work for over 150 years. But like the definition of insanity, the world keeps trying it over and over expecting different results. ..." To see the fiery creation youtu.be/4amiMyWKz28