ASU Herberger College School of Art Faculty Exhibition

October 18, 2008 – January 25, 2009
Opening Reception: Friday, October 17, 7-9 p.m.

Jerry Bleem, Visiting Professor, Fibers

Nationalism as an intellectual exercise: its complexities and assumptions,
its hazards and domestic implications, 2008
U.S.A. flag, nylon cord, hardware, 69 x 41”
Courtesy of the artist and Packer Schopf Gallery, Chicago

The country’s symbol, the flag, serves as my material as I examine the implications of national allegiance.  In my Nationalism series (of which Nationalism as an intellectual exercise: its complexities and assumptions, its hazards and domestic implications is a part), I want to explore the connection between the government’s action on the world stage and the lives of its citizens.

How does patriotism span our public and private lives?

After cutting the nation’s banner into thin strips, I rely upon crochet to reconfigure the familiar surface into a more vague, abstracted one.  As a domestic craft, this technique allows me to refer to the real and desired comfort of our homes.  When governmental decisions change the lives of individuals (e.g., when soldiers fail to return from war or return injured), the home becomes the arena where difficult, emotional adjustments must be made.  This task falls on the shoulders of a few people, usually a single family; the nation as a whole knows little of this household agony.

Cutting up the flag aligns my work with those who have used the flag to express their opposition to national policies.  Though clearly not treating the Stars and Stripes in a traditional or widely acceptable manner, desecrating the flag is not my goal.  Whenever the viewers’ recognition of the material occurs, I hope they also see a manifestation of time.  The product of my slicing and crocheting was created as I thought about the intersection between the private lives of individuals and the public life of a nation.  This series documents my reflecting and my quest for understanding rather than an ideological position.

More information: John Spiak, spiak@asu.edu.

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