Mykola Zhuravel

American Flag

Artist Statement:

This project focuses on depicting America as a land and the United States as one of the largest and the most influential democratic nation on the planet. Through visual imagery, it traces the path of how modern American society emerged, grew, and took mature shape.
The project's underlying idea is an homage to the U.S. flag that creates a visualization of the artist's vision of how America developed as a nation and a state through the artistic image of the flag.

Symbolism:
The stars in the upper left corner of the flag are transformed into goblets held by human hands.
The goblets symbolize human values, both spiritual and material.
Clay—the expanse of the land—as the foundation of the U.S.
The stripes present the history of how modern American society took shape though the contributions of different generations and ethnicities.
The author of this project was inspired by the aesthetics of ancient Egyptian reliefs, as reflected in the rhythms of figures carved in stone, and the events in the history of an ancient people.
The project uses the figures of people of different ages and in different roles; between them, one sees the constituent parts and fruits of their lives, as well as the stylized elements of the environment in which they exist, inscribed with a spectrum of symbols.

Mykola Zhuravel