The statement 'you can be whoever you want to be...Prime-Minister/President, Secretary General, even an Artist' - often goes unexamined although often said to encourage the young.
For ten years General Secretary Kofi Annan was the figure-head of the UN –functioning as a borderless diplomat. His tenure suggests that a branded-icon is often a sign of collective consensus created by multiple means including education, awards, investitures and trophies.
The “Trophies” series presents several points of departure for the viewer:
a) The familiar motif known as Paint-by-number paintings.
b) A confidence to interact with art.
c) Imaginative intricacy is often simple when analyzed.
d) Model diplomacy for hope and change is often rewarded.
This series continues a general artistic approach that engages accessible and familiar motifs from popular culture along with my conceptual interests. These works imply an invitation to the viewer to “fill-in” his/her choice and picture the vibrant possibilities of color. They are strange but familiar diagrams that challenge the viewer to envision completion and change with his/her imagination.
