"Oligarchy" is one of the paintings in my Lacunae series. A Lacuna is a gap. The series addresses the gap between centuries-old religious traditions and the modern secular world. Most of the paintings in the series are mash-ups (something you can understand:) and have specific jumping off points in a historical context and religious traditions.
The painting started with the subtitle "The Sadducces". The Sadducees and Pharisees were the ruling elite in Palestine in the 1st Century BC and AD. They were often the ire of Jesus' teachings. The Sadducees were in charge of political and religious affairs. They maintained relations with Rome and were in charge of military affairs.
I used to paint a lot of portraits in Pennsylvania when I was younger. One time, in the early 1990's when I was painting a portrait of Ambassador Walter Annenberg (I used to paint a lot of portraits in Pennsylvania when I was younger), I was painting him in his office, a red phone behind his desk rang and he informed me that he had to stop posing for a minute and take this call. He spoke in hushed tones, saying, "No, don't do that" and "Yes, do that." Hanging up the phone and turning back around he informed me that he was advising the President. I asked him about his politics, did he support Republicans or Democrats, he quickly waved his hand back and forth saying "Republicans Democrats apples oranges, that's not where the power is!" And I realized in moment that there is a "They" and that I was in the presence of one.
The Oligarchy can seem like a mystery, a phantom hard to find, to define, but the corporate elite are the man behind the curtain in this country. We are a military industrial complex.. We make our greatest profits on arms.. Starting wars, protecting allies, supplying allies (and enemies), making weapons and guns for military and commercial purposes.
The Oligarchy today is the corporate elite.. Those who profit at the expense of others.. The one percent.. The idea to paint about it had been rolling around for years. I had protested for decades, protesting against wars, marching in New York, Washington and Philadelphia. I protested regularly (weekly) at the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia holding silent vigils for peace with a band of Quakers. I often took photos of the marches and rallies and thought about how to construct a painting about it. But, when the Occupy movement swelled in Zuccotti Park in New York I visited the park and did studies. Originally I was going to incorporate the Wall Street Bull sculpture. That may morph into another picture. The painting took a couple of years of planning and another year to complete. I did drawings and paintings and studies of the primary characters. My friend, a doctor from my hometown of Columbus Georgia agreed to pose for the King. Students from Columbus State University College of the Arts posed for the crowd of figures below. I want it to feel like we aren't certain if they are holding him up saying "long live the King" or if they are carrying him over the ridge chanting "Off with his head" to throw him off the cliff.
Ferguson erupted while I was working on the painting. The Black Lives Matter movement informed the mood, but I didn't want the painting to represent one particular revolt. The struggles are eternal. The power struggle is eternal. There are right and wrong sides of history. When we realize that protecting our status can hold us back and create a kind of dead document of our lives then we will live not just for ourselves but also for the well-being of others, the other, those who we share this planet with. We live in a holistic system, everything effects everything else. What I do effects you, what you do effects me. Race, class, gender, these are issues of the day. The haves and the have-nots, the 1% and the 99%. I'm not moralizing. The work isn't didactic. It's not "history painting" in that sort of way. It is just presenting the situation. The protagonists share the stage. I did a painting in the 80's entitled "Revenge of the Oppressed", a rich white man is being strung up by his dong by an unruly throng of women and minorities. I decided to hold back in this rendition. Bring it back to an earlier moment. Hold it there..
The Art historical precedents are clearly in the dramatic swirling paintings of the French Revolution. Delacroix, Gericault, etc. "Liberty Leading the People". There is a great public sculpture by Lipchitz in Center City Philadelphia of "Government Supporting the People " but the throng appears to be being crushed by a mysterious weight, I always jokingly called the sculpture "Government Crushing the People". This sculpture informed the hierarchical structure of the composition.
I believe in the power of Art to transform lives. My hope is to find connective tissue between opposing ideas to try to help find common ground, to show that we are all in this together. If we can move beyond the cynicism, the dualistic thinking, all the rhetoric and posturing, if we can listen to others, reach out and find the things we have in common with others we'll start to resolve some of these conflicts that appear irreconcilable. I've seen Republicans and Democrats, the wealthy and the homeless, people of all races and genders, standing shoulder to shoulder appreciating the wonder of a work of Art.
Since reading Suzi Gablik's "The Re-Enchantment of Art" in the early 90's I have grappled with how to meld the challenges she put forth with a sustained artistic practice. I have continued to paint. But my practice has expanded to include teaching school children, working with the homeless, teaching them to paint to express themselves, to tell their stories. Joseph Campbell said "the artists are the prophets", if that is true, we all have to work harder to be agents of change.. To make the world a better place.
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