Robert
Dickes

Americana Revisited

This work was inspired by the events of the Covid 19 pandemic, Black Lives Matter, the Presidential political race of 2020, and so many of the other events of 2019/2020. While in lockdown I was motivated by the work of Norman Rockwell and how he illustrated the idealism of American middleclass in the 1930's -1970's. Rockwell painted an image of the American middleclass that he saw. His utopian vision was featured on magazines as who we are and should strive to be.
In my case, I want to look at what is the real modern-day America. Not with rose colored glasses, but with a sense of reality. My goal is not to politicize these issues, but to stand neutral and be observant to what I am seeing. Our country has turned so black and white that most people cannot see a contemporary issue without putting judgement upon it. Modern day Cancel Culture has pushed this to such extremes that just about everything is too controversial to have any kind of public discussion.