Pen and ink drawing
This is the central picture in the series, although it was the last one to be completed. The 9/11 attack is of course the start point. The top of World Trade Centre (North Tower) is set with a meal of steak and red wine. This refers to my memory of lunch in the Windows on the World restaurant during my first visit to New York in 1992. I remember seeing an aircraft fly past, below the level of the restaurant, on its way to La Guardia.
By 2006, when this drawing was commenced, the chaos of the US response to the atrocity had become evident, with an ongoing war in Afghanistan and the American attempt to ‘democratise’ Iraq in bloody pieces. This made me reflect on what I felt about America, good and bad.
Historical references, such as Fort Sumter and the battles of the Monitors in the American Civil War, the Ku Klux Klan, Pearl Harbor, and prehistoric fauna from the La Brea tar pits in LA, are included. There are also references to music; the LA punk band ‘X’, whose performance at the House of Blues, Sunset Strip in 2000 was one of the best gigs I’ve been to, and another favourite, the Ramones, sharing Mount Rushmore with Lincoln.
There is Truman Capote’s ‘In Cold Blood’, Ingnatius with his hot dog cart from John Kennedy Toole’s marvellous ‘Confederacy of Dunces’, Kerouac’s ‘On the Road’ and… The Munsters. I reflect on some great nights out in Washington Square and Greenwich Village and, top right, incongruously tip my hat to another favourite, the Canadian prog rock band ‘Rush’ with scattered maple leaves. Finally, top left, we see Governor Sarah Palin, decorously stepping out of her bath to observe Russia from her house in Alaska.
Now more than ever, America remains a place of extremes.
Artwork Details
- Medium: Pen and Ink on Paper
- Dimensions: [Enter Dimensions Here, e.g., 250cm x 150cm]
- Year: [Completed 2006 onwards]