Artwork:
On May 10, 1869, Central Pacific RR president Leland Stanford hammered home the ceremonial ""Golden Spike"" at Promontory Summit, Utah, to commemorate the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad. On hand were all the bosses, investors, politicians, and Irish railroad laborers, but the Chinese laborers, who completed the more difficult Western 1/3 of the project at a 10% casualty rate, had by then been given a one-way ticket to anywhere but Promontory Summit. The great American tradition of racial discrimination, which was easy to inflict since the social and political doldrums of the Chinese were conveniently pegged to those of African Americans, forced the Chinese to keep moving until they eventually took refuge in the charming Chinatown ghettos tourists still enjoy in our larger coastal cities. The movie actress Anna May Wong was born in L.A.'s Chinatown and acted in 50 Hollywood movies, playing dragon ladies, evil temptresses, slave girls, exotic show girls, etc. Never a lady.
Artist Statement:
I have always loved cartoons. They are my earliest memories, and I hope they will be my last. Cartoons are universal, but that was not always so. I knew a Swiss man who saw his first cartoon at nine and concluded that animals in America can talk. I didn't draw that conclusion until I was a college sophomore. I create art because I can… to read the rest of the Artist Statement visit weredoingitallwrong.com or scan the QR Code.
$3,000
