USA Projects

Revolutionary Archive is a suite of paintings that utilize and transform vintage photographs from the Paris Commune, the Russian Revolution and the Chinese Revolution. For the past decade, many of my projects have examined how the past conditions the present.   Now I am seeking your help to develop a body of work that highlights moments of these modern revolutionary movements that have a bearing on the possibilities for our contemporary culture.

I have been collecting photographic imagery from the modern revolutionary period.  These images are documents of the past but they also capture and point to lasting struggles and ideals. There are photographs of communards from 1871 standing around the Vendôme Column (a monument to the victories of Napoleon I) which they recently toppled; a 1917 photograph of wounded Red Army soldiers during the Russian civil war; pictures of university walls in Beijing in 1967 covered with handmade “big character posters” arguing for their respective authors’ views on how to advance society.  This is an archive of a contested and sometimes forgotten history.

I recently began to make paintings using historic photographs of “big character posters,” to highlight importance of ideas to changing the world. As the project develops, I will deepen this excavation of a hidden history of struggle by ordinary people to have their voice be part of society-wide debate. Most recently, I painted a 1919 image of a crowd of eager Soviet peasants gathered around a gramophone brought by an agit-prop train carrying the latest news from Petrograd. The painting highlights the high-tech communication of the day—a Victrola and a movie projector.

But what does this spirit, daring, dreaming and imagination of yesterday’s revolutionaries have to say to people today? While history presented unforeseen complexity and challenges to the rebels, these revolutions significantly extended life expectancy, developed agriculture so the population could be fed, drastically expanded literacy, eradicated feudal customs, granted women rights to property and divorce, motivated people towards ending oppression and involved them in administering government. 

Revolutionary Archive draws on the heart, vision and romanticism of times when people believed that they could radically transform society and took action based on this knowledge.

My work will also become part of a larger international conversation on the contemporary influence of these movements.  For example, many contemporary Chinese artists are now examining their country’s recent history and are drawing on imagery and art from the Cultural Revolution and my new work focuses joins and extends this dialogue.  My exploration of this era, across borders and time, reveals how world-historic and international the aspirations of the time were. It adds a vital component to this conversation.

To do this I need your help. I need money for canvas and paint, funds to pay studio rent and to enable me to devote time to this project. I’m asking for $8,000 to complete 10 paintings. I’m eager to produce the work in time to present it to curators who are assembling upcoming international exhibitions. Your contribution can help make this happen.

To encourage your generosity, if you give you will receive. In addition to supporting an important project, all contributions over $25 will receive a gift acknowledging your support. Contributions of $350 will receive a sketch/print. Anyone who contributes $500 or more will be invited to my studio and will be given a private tour. Contributors of $1000 will be given a print (these monoprints can be viewed in a Showcase on this site). Thank you for your support.