Brian Singer
Up a Creek, 2020

wood, cotton flags, lead, nails, acrylic
21”H x 75”W x 6”D

ARTWORK STATEMENT:

As we navigate our path forward as a nation (and as a species), our history provides clues to what may lay ahead. Not just the manner by which many of our families immigrated here, but also in the complexity of conflicts that resulted. In this piece, titled “Up a Creek”, two United States Bennington flags were disassembled thread by thread, and then tied end to end and wrapped around oars. The flags are associated with the American Revolution Battle of Bennington, and feature an iconic ’76 in the canton (referencing the year the Declaration of Independence was signed). The oars are placed on a gun rack which has been clad in lead, the metal many bullets are made with. The title of the piece is derived from the saying “Up a creek without a paddle”, and conjures up imagery of being stranded in a boat with no way of paddling or moving. It’s not unlike the situation we find ourselves in, though the issue is less about the lack of paddles, and more about which direction we row.

Artist Bio:

Brian Singer, also known as Someguy, is a San Francisco-based fine artist whose studio practice and large-scale public projects address a variety of social-justice issues. With a meticulous rigor and legibility informed by his experience as a designer and visual communicator, Singer’s work invites critical engagement through surprising juxtapositions of media and wordplay.