A History of Art part 20

Today's session saw work on a number of areas. First I dealt with the last untouched piece of the tower, the top left, next to the casino. Here I put a janitor mopping the floor, with mop wringer pail. I based the figure on one used for a print from my Ecclesiastes series, but made it look a little more like me. He represents my prints that deal with work (especially last year's Employee), as well as my own experiences with paid manual labor.

Next I put some airplanes in the sky, one each corner. Partly because they are a logical way to occupy the space, but also I have always been into airplanes. Even now when I go to D.C., a spin through the Air and Space Museum is on the agenda after I check out the art museums on the Mall. Of course, I always found military planes more interesting than passenger planes- more exotic shapes, markings, etc. And my favorite military plane of all is the WWII era North American B 25 Mitchell, a medium bomber. Something about the overall design and proportions, the shapes, the multiple gun mounts. It's record in combat was impressive as well. So I put a B 25 in the upper right, adjacent to the studio scene.

In the upper left I put an airliner, a plane I have more experience with as a traveller. Jets have taken me back and forth to school, overseas to see art in Italy, to art residencies, so you can say that it's part of my artistic life. However, almost as soon as I decided to put one there, I thought of another association. I don't think it's possible to see a passenger jet near a tower and not think about 9/11. On the other hand, this is an event I have dealt with in my art. So I decided to go ahead and put it in.

I also posted a view of the whole block to date, now that the tower is more or less constructed. Click to see those details. Next up is to come up with ideas for finishing the foreground and background around the tower. I'll give it some thought over the next few days, maybe be ready to try some sketches toward the end of the week.