Project Description

36″ x 36″

Mixed media on wood

This is part of a series inspired by 100 letters written by my grandfather while he was a young soldier serving in the US Army during World War I.  I never met him. All the artwork in this series bring forth the feelings, passions and ideas he wrote about, or are derived from the physicality of the stationery, handwriting, stains, etc.

With the Colors (#3) references how immigrants have persevered in the darkness, after persecution or great despair, to find their way to a distant, more hopeful shore. Like my grandfather, who escaped the pogroms of Eastern Europe and then fought as a U.S. soldier in the “Great War”, so many immigrants have held their commitment to America – with all its promises and pitfalls – as a deep honor and privilege.  The phrase “with the colors”, which was printed onto some of the US Expeditionary Forces stationary his letters were written on, is a solemn and heartfelt term for the American flag.

$2375