Artist Statement // STATE OF MAIN
STATE OF MAIN
After Trump won in 2016, it felt like many of the rural communities I was passing through expressed the MAGA ethos in ways I could never fully understand. And the visuals relating to American patriotism seemed more politically charged and partisan than ever. But there was also the timeless and sometimes quirky small-town iconography that often caught my eye. I wanted to see if there was a way to combine these different elements into a cohesive body of work that expressed my own interpretation of small-town America.
STATE OF MAIN is primarily a metaphor for the American dream; for opportunity, independence and patriotism. But it's also a study of hard times, abandoned homes and shuttered stores. It's these dualities that interest me the most, and how in the end, it's nature that almost always seems to win.
Paul Edmondson
Seattle, WA