This is the second piece (along with Hands Across America) that was created as part of my preparation for the Falling Into Place exhibit with Michelle Carlson at the 20 North Gallery. It’s meant to draw attention to the decimation of American blue-collar jobs resulting from the mass movement of manufacturing overseas as a result of free-trade policies adopted in the 1990’s.
There’s a lot about this piece that I like from a technical perspective. There are very few mistakes, and those that are there are not obvious. The face in pieces is that of a very close friend, and I like that shattered-mirror-like effect so much that I’ll undoubtedly use it again in future work. All of the realism elements came out really well, and many of the abstractions harbor traits requiring some intellectual effort to interpret, which is intentional. This one and its companion piece mentioned above are two of my personal favorites thus far.