PANDEMIC 2020
PANDEMIC 2020
Ink and distemper on paper, 43.5 x 85 inches
Ink and distemper on paper, 43.5 x 85 inches
Detail of custodian and map of time
Ink and distemper on paper
Detail of ‘global time’
Ink and distemper on paper
Detail of tsunami and trunk
Ink and distemper on paper
Detail of dustpan at shore
Ink and distemper on paper
Detail of dustpan and chair leg
Ink on paper, 50 x 113 inches
INSURRECTION was published in QUARANZINE #79 by Half Letter Press.
FALLOW TRENCH
In the exceptional Nation State of One,
the novel plague,
first declared nonexistent,
then decried as sophic,
was ultimately decreed ‘Democratic’.
It was.
Though itself invisible to the naked eye,
the virus, though little,
spread by aspirational spittle,
magnified divisions and bonds.
Manufacturers mandated.
Distributors consolidated.
Liberators looted.
Suppliers hoarded.
Senators sanctioned.
the unaffordable could be bought again.
Sacrificial heroes, ill-suited, staved,
for another quarter,
the essential economy.
Perhaps.
Routines were screened.
Meetings multiplied and merged.
Unemployment ranks swelled.
Curves flattened; feeds fed.
Appropriations diverted.
Tweet-enlisted fascists drilled.
Unmasked.
Indisposed Justice meted
black breath no repose.
The State of Stasis
is fought within, and without.
Andrew Ellis Johnson 2020
Detail of couch
Detail, left half
Detail, right half
Detail of the novel, INSURRECTO by Gina Apostol
The drawing is named after Insurrecto by Gina Apostol, a novel read and set aside behind the reader’s sterile shoulder. It’s story begins under the current presidency of Rodrigo Duterte, a dictator who has encouraged extrajudicial killings. Not surprisingly, this president has been praised by our own president, who seems a kindred bully. With the unrest that followed George Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis, Trump tweeted “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.” Apostol’s Insurrecto is a feverish narrative about a small Filipino town’s insurrection against American oppressors. Fevers are insurrections of the body against infection and illness. We have illnesses of all kinds—medical, social, and economic. Too many are chronic. Certain fevers need to spread—to burn out ignorance and injustice.
Ink and distemper on paper, 50 x 116 inches
INCOMING is an updated and ironic allegory of manifest destiny, an idea that embodies its legacy. It blends historical and current references to xenophobic and hypocritical attitudes toward migrants and disease.
Ink and distemper on paper, 50 x 116 inches, 50 x 116 inches
Detail of hydraulic lift
Ink and distemper on paper
Detail of reins.
Ink and distemper on paper
Detail of ‘the band played on’.
Ink and distemper on paper.
Detail of hydraulic lift.
Ink and distemper on paper.
Detail of ‘incoming’ sign.
Detail of bunting.
Detail of pallbearer.
Detail of father and daughter with hazard ribbon.
Detail of trombone.
Detail of Madonna and child.
Ink on paper, 50 x 113 inches
The ghost of patriarchy is going away, reclining and ensconced in high culture – as is his want.
He absently gestures to no one in particular.
The sovereign sway of cherubs and camels give way to another sanitized history: our own. First responders in bleached personal protective equipment take their haul to the burial trench.
Detail of lace cuff from the Enlightenment
Detail of a carrier
Detail of Covid couch
Detail of upholstery
Ink on paper, 42 x 74 inches
Detail of couch carrier
Detail of right couch
Detail of Louis XVI couch
Detail of Louis XVI couch upholstery
Detail of upper left corner
Detail of graves (with artist’s cat)