Our History Was Never Beautiful

A body of work amalgamating and digitally rewriting versions of U.S. presidents, landscape paintings and other media reflecting the supposed ‘American Values’ including but not limited to topics of: manifest destiny, patriotism, the Invisible Hand and other destructive ideologies. The subtext indicates the dissociation between our optical representations of the past, the fragmentation of the present and the erasure of embedded contexts of time and the dissolution of U.S. trust in the American Dream, a manufactured vision of ideals that conferred a virtual experience of success and material obtainment at the cost of others.

ImageTitle#Wiki LinkYear CreatedPhysical Description
old hickory, andrew jackson, modifiedThe Grand Inquisitor [Old_Hickory]7Andrew Jackson2015 (October)40in x 40in Digital Print on Canvas
Teflon, The Comeback KidTeflon
[The_Comeback_Kid]
42Bill Clinton2016 (February)40in x 40in Digital Print on Canvas
The Light Has Gone, Theodore RooseveltThe Light Has Gone
[The_Lion]
26Theodore Roosevelt2016 (February)40in x 40in Digital Print on Canvas
Andrew Johnson, The Holographic Empire, PresidentThe Holographic Empire
[Sir_Veto]
17Andrew Johnson2016 (March)40in x 40in Digital Print on Canvas
Benjamin HarrisonIt Was Never Ours
[The_Human_Iceberg]
23Benjamin Harrison2016 (November)40in x 40in Digital Print on Canvas
Red Fox, President Van Buren, Martin Van BurenRed Fox
[Little_Magician]
8Martin Van Buren2016 (November)40in x 40in Digital Print on Canvas
end-game_duckpinEndgame Theory
[Duckpin]
34Dwight D. Eisenhower2016 (November)40in x 40in Digital Print on Canvas
Zachary TaylorIced Milk
[O.R.A.R.]
12Zachary Taylor2016 (November)40in x 40in Digital Print on Canvas
Woodrow Wilson, Integrated SystemsS_I
[The Phrasemaker]
28Woodrow Wilson2016 (November)40in x 40in Digital Print on Canvas