| Artist statement |
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| "In God We Trust" grew out of the bemused observation
that our currency bears upon it images of architecture that are,
by and large, institutions of governance. I found it ironic that
the principal instrument of corruption and undue influence, the
"greenback", bears upon it the images of those same institutions
that it subverts. Further, the architectural style of the buildings
represened on the bills, Neoclassicism, celebrates the architecture,
and therefore the achievements of the first democracy, Athens, and
the first republic, Rome. I spent the academic year 2000/01 on a
sabbatical-leave to complete this group of works (begun in 1998)
among other projects. I finished the work in August of 2001. The
first four pieces from the series of twelve have been exhibited
in University galleries. |
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| The notion of sending each Member of the 107th Congress
a print from the series grew out of the tax rebate issue. As a middle-class
individual, I thought that there were many more important things
that government could do with my $300 than send it back to me. During
the early summer I had decided to send the refund in equal parts
to Senators McCain (R - AZ), Jeffords (I - VT), and Daschle (D -
SD) as campaign contributions because each had or would play a major
role in the then coming debate over campaign finance reform. Then
we were told that we were supposed to spend the refund to stimulate
the economy. So, in an effort to do my part, I've bought a lot of
photographic paper and am sending each member of Congress an image
with the sincere hope that collectively, we can fix a very broken
system. |
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| Biography |
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| Reed Estabrook is an artist and professor of art
at San Jose State University with more than 30 years of experience.
His works have been exhibited nationally and internationally and
is represented in most major public collections of the US including
the Museum of Modern Art in New York, The Art Institute of Chicago,
The J. Paul Getty Museum and the San Francisco Museum of Modern
Art. In the late 70's he made a work that imaged the whole of the
United States from San Francisco to NYC along Interstate 80 and
used 21,000 negatives. This two mile long photo earned him a spot
on the To Tell the Truth Show. |
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| About this print |
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| This is a gelatin silver print produced under largely
archival standards - the same standards you would expect if you
were to purchase an art photo in a gallery. They are titled and
signed by hand. These prints were produced with the assistance of
several graduate students and friends over a twelve-day period. |
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