Reviews

"The Flag"

This piece depicts the history of an American family - that of Lillian Bunker - from 1936 through 1956. The artist has laminated original photographs from Mrs. Bunker´s photo albums onto the stripes of an actual American flag. The flag has 48 stars, representing the Union before the admission of Alaska and Hawaii in 1959. The three framed groups of photographs next to the flag are reproductions of the original photos on the flag, presented in this manner so that they can be clearly seen.

These years left an indelible stamp on the United States. They saw the Great Depression and the New Deal, the Second World War and the beginning of the post-war economic boom, the Korean War and the start of the Cold War. They witnessed the birth of Superman and the triumph of Mickey Mouse; Muddy Waters took a train from the Delta to Chicago and transformed the Blues, while Elvis Presley ushered in rock-and-roll with "That´s All Right" and became a star; Philip Marlow, Raymond Chandler´s hard-boiled L.A. detective, made his apperance in The Big Sleep, and John Steinbeck chronicled the Joad family´s trials in The Grapes of Wrath. Rockefeller Center showcase the International style in mordern architecture, and the soaring steel span of the Golden Gate Bridge linked San Francisco and Marin County. Norman Rockwell´s illustrations were highlights of "Life" magazine covers, and Jackson Pollock pioneered his "drip" paintings. "Mad" magazine first hit the stands, and Hugh Hefner´s "Playboy" featured Marilyn Monroe as its first playmate. "The Wizard of Oz" and "Gone with the Wind" made celluloid history. Jackie Robinson made it into the big leagues, and welterweight Sugar Ray Robinson put the "sweet" into the sweet science. Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz made "I Love Lucy" into the top rated program on TV, knocking off Arthur Godfrey and Milton Berle. The doomsday clock ticked down to three minutes before mdinight, and Senator Joseph McCarthy took on the U.S. Army and lost as 20 million Americans watched.

The artist, Arline Basescu, was also ushered into the world during this era. Born in the U.S. of Romanian descent, she studied art in New York City at the School of Industrial Art, the Parsons School of Design, the Art Student´s League, the National Academy of Fine Arts, and Columbia University, and in Munich at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste. She has had solo and group exhibitions in New York, Connecticut, Augsburg, Munich, Düsseldorf and Romania. She presently works and lives in Munich

Gerneral Consulate of United States
of America / Munich, Germany