American Dream | American Hustle (ON No.1)

wax pastel, acrylic, soot, and machine grease on canvas

24" x 30"

ABOUT

AMERICAN DREAM | AMERICAN HUSTLE is part of the MACHINE series. These works explore the duality of both the promise and the pressure of the American Dream—the pride of striving (the hustle) and the exhaustion of the possibility of  never arriving.​

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The compositions are a reimagining of the flag — not as a fixed national symbol, but as a shifting field of meaning. They are not a rejection of patriotism; they are a meditation on what patriotism is in a modern context and what the American dream costs.

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The Machine Series was created using rubbings from industrial machines at my family’s metal fabrication shop. On-site found materials including grease, oil, and soot are incorporated in the compositions, along with traditional art materials.

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The rubbings (or frottages) are created from the raised lettering on the machines. ON, OFF, OPERATE–these utilitarian texts, originally meant to direct labor, anchor the compositions. These texts, made for efficiency rather than expression, become my visual vocabulary. These words speak to a culture of constant motion and productivity. Fingerprints, smudges, and accidental transfers appear on the canvas from physically handling it and draping it over machinery to create the rubbings. The surfaces hold the evidence of movement, repetition, manual work — devotion and loyalty.

Untitled USA (BLOOD RUST No.2)

wax pastel, acrylic, machine grease on canvas

12" x 16"