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Jain Maria Hutzell
Mixed Media
"Cerberus/Let loose the dogs of war" - 2002
The possibility of dynastic rulership of the U.S.A. entered many minds as well as my own when George II took office. The announcement a year before that GW had raised millions of dollars more than any other candidate at the early start of the campaign was an uofficial harbinger of the final death blow to the American Dream. How do race, class, and gender affect the lives of US? Are religion and politics still closely linked? What role does economics play in national and international politics?
Cerberus, the giant three-headed dog, guarded the gates of the underworld in Greek mythology. The "heads" of state: George I, George II, and the mirror-in-which-we-can-never-see-ourselves reference the mythological Cerberus. While the three heads are different, they utilize the same body (the body of America). Like the snarling three headed dog they will admit no one who does not belong in that "other" World (the "patriotic" suits). Though the rest of us ARE "others" because we cannot belong by dent of not fitting the "bill."
The lines behind the faces heading outwards like rays of light are strips from the financial page of the newspaper: for George I - the NYSE, for George II - NASDAQ, for the unseen hopefuls - Mutual Funds. The shape of the "heads," like Byzantine halos are larger than life size, though the xeroxed faces of George I and II are not - they are black and white.
The body, solid, stained, and in the earthy material of wood, represents the real US, even clothed in the fading red, white and blue suit of business. But the body still rolls on golden wheels...it is heavy and requires energy to move...which leads us into temptation...may we wake up and deliver ourselves from evil.