Pencil on paper 43.2 x 35.6 cm (17 x 14 in.)
About Jim Shaw
In Jim Shaw’s hands familiar symbols of American culture are rendered absurd thanks to his amalgamation of such varied image sources as kitsch ads, army propaganda, comic book illustrations and public figures. Calling on the visual language of modern America, Shaw creates an eclectic world of commercial and political abundance, a twisted tribute to glorification and grotesquery.
Shaw’s practice has always been inherently ‘American’, imbued with national references and critiques, some contemporary, others historic. Study for “Gate of Hell”, 2018, is a drawing that speaks to the political climate in the United States that was ever present during and in the two years before Shaw made this work. A deranged face and gaping mouth leads a faceless group of people through a tunnel straight into the Central Park underworld. This absurd theme came to Shaw after seeing an image of Fred Christ Trump - Donald’s father - who, to the artist, looked the spitting image of Christopher Lee’s Dracula.
Shaw was born in 1952 in Midland, MI and lives and works in Los Angeles, CA
About Doctors Without Borders
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an independent international medical humanitarian organization that provides emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, natural disasters, and exclusion from health care, regardless of race, religion, gender or political affiliation.
