Aspects of (American) Life

2014, 115" x 80" x 60", glass, adhesive, commissioned by the New Britain Museum American Art, photo credit: Gavin Ashworth

Aspects of (American) Life responds to Thomas Hart Benton’s The Arts of Life in America, an epic portrait of American culture. Completed in1932, Benton’s vocabulary is appropriated to interpret anew contemporary American culture, juxtaposing symbols of materiality with religiosity. Get Next to God, a sign concealed by a preacher’s head in the mural, anchors the top of the composition, its meaning lost in the absence of the figure. Aspects of (American) Life was commissioned by New Britain Museum of American Art.

2014, 115" x 80" x 60", glass, adhesive, commissioned by the New Britain Museum American Art, photo credit: Gavin Ashworth

2014, 115" x 80" x 60", glass, adhesive, commissioned by the New Britain Museum American Art, photo credit: Gavin Ashworth

2014, 115" x 80" x 60", glass, adhesive, commissioned by the New Britain Museum American Art, photo credit: Gavin Ashworth