Preview
Creation Date
2020
Description
The New American Dream 4
Acrylic Paint
3' x 4'
2020
This image is the top right hand of the painting zoomed in. Here we see a floating billboards (as was really discussed by some companies who wanted to do research on how to project billboards and ads into the sky and even space for all to see). We also see in the top right a devil grasping at a bag of something new from an “angel” who is just too happy to be giving it to him. The demon is a representation of consumers as thought of by Fredrick Jameson who said we are just demons of consumption, who will always want more no matter what. (paraphrasing) Lastly, we see a monster pointing at a young mom. This is meant to represent managers with purposeful lean staffing. This is a common practice in retail stores where managers purposefully short staff the help they need in order to save money, even if the store does need the help. With these practices employees are often targeted as bait, if they do not come in to work when more help is needed, they are often threatened to be fired, regardless of their home life.
This painting highlights the shortcomings of Late Capitalism by showing how big systems affect us all through major topics including Big Pharma, Lean-staffing, Housing Crisis', Corrupt corporations and more. The piece also displays the idea of our worth today being largely based off how much we can produce and the issues that come with that way of thinking.