This acrylic and ink painting showcases layers and variations of the American flag with circular forms evoking the ideal of liberty. The interplay of stripes, stars, and spheres produces a tightly balanced field that is suggesting that “fighting for freedom” is an ongoing, process rather than a completed historical episode. It was inspired by all the people in Berkeley, California waving flags on street corners after Joe Biden won the 2020 election in the United States.
As a symbolic flag, this painting fits within a longer tradition. One thinks of Jasper Johns’s mid‑20th‑century flag paintings, which flatten the surface in a way that leads the viewer to raise questions about perception, symbolism, and the boundary between object and icon.
Childe Hassam’s Flag series of 1916–1919 also come to mind. Like Hassam, who reflected a patriotic perspective, this work was also a patriotic expression.
See also Small Perceptual Line Study 31245, another commentary on flags.
Amy Ione
Title: Flags and Freedom
Date: 2020
Medium: Acrylic on paper
Dimensions: 13.5×10 inchea (unframed)
Signed:
Catalog Number: 31140