Intro
As you will see, the basic theme common to all my work is that it uses one or more famous or familiar images which become or encapsulate one or more other familiar image. The reasons I do this are to reveal some unstated subtext of the images, to add a subtext of my own , to demystify or “deconstruct” the mythology attached to it , and sometimes to add an element of humor or irony in the juxtapositions.
Entitled "All in the Same Boat, An All-Purpose Propaganda Poster"
this , of course, is based on a detail of Leutze’s “Washington Crossing the Delaware”. But viewed from a distance, we see a most unlikely stowaway, the second most famous revolutionary leader in history. But which ideology is being promoted here? Am I saying we have gone the way of Lenin, or that we have dominated his ideology with ours, or that there’s not a dime’s worth of difference between the two? No, none of the above. This is about the power of propaganda, in particular the importance of the image for propaganda. Used singly, either image evokes a predictable, basically irrational, response. Which is what the propagandist wants: irrational response. The combination of two of the most knee-jerk images in the propagandist’s arsenal is designed to have the opposite effect : to make you think, and that’s why some would find it dangerous.
