WICKED ASPIRATIONS — Andrew Ellis Johnson

Basic Conditionalities or the Assumption of Burden: Stalking the Countryside, 1998

Basic Conditionalities or the Assumption of Burden: Stalking the Countryside, 1998

Oil, ink and gouache on paper, 13.75 x 27.5 inches

Post-colonial Shift to Greater Dependency: Subjugated Squirrels, 1998

Post-colonial Shift to Greater Dependency: Subjugated Squirrels, 1998

Ink and gouache on paper, 13.75 x 27.5 inches

Detail from Post-colonial Shift to Greater Dependency: Subjugated Squirrels, 1998

Detail from Post-colonial Shift to Greater Dependency: Subjugated Squirrels, 1998

Ink and gouache on paper, 13.75 x 27.5 inches

Detail from Post-colonial Shift to Greater Dependency: Subjugated Squirrels, 1998

Detail from Post-colonial Shift to Greater Dependency: Subjugated Squirrels, 1998

Ink and gouache on paper, 13.75 x 27.5 inches

Vassals and Tributaries: Clamorous Cats, Lifting of Foreign Investment Restriction & Hope, 1998

Vassals and Tributaries: Clamorous Cats, Lifting of Foreign Investment Restriction & Hope, 1998

Ink and gouache on paper, 13.75 x 27.5 inches

Detail, Vassals and Tributaries: Clamorous Cats, Lifting of Foreign Investment Restriction & Hope, 1998

Detail, Vassals and Tributaries: Clamorous Cats, Lifting of Foreign Investment Restriction & Hope, 1998

Ink and gouache on paper, 13.75 x 27.5 inches

Vassals and Tributaries: Delusional Dogs, 1998

Vassals and Tributaries: Delusional Dogs, 1998

Ink and gouache on paper, 13.75 x 27.5 inches

Collection of Holter Museum of Art, Helena, Montana

Vassals and Tributaries: Maniacal Monkeys, 1998

Vassals and Tributaries: Maniacal Monkeys, 1998

Ink and gouache/paper, 21 x 21 inches

Preparing for Disasters That Have Already Come, 2000

Preparing for Disasters That Have Already Come, 2000

Ink wash on weather balloon, 36 inch diameter

Preparing for Disasters That Have Already Come, 2000

Preparing for Disasters That Have Already Come, 2000

Ink wash on weather balloon, 36 inch dimater

Preparing for Disasters That Have Already Come, 2000

Preparing for Disasters That Have Already Come, 2000

Ink wash on weather balloon, 36 inch diameter

squirrel test_pp.jpg

Preparing for Disasters That Have Already Come, 2000

Preparing for Disasters That Have Already Come, 2000

Ink wash on collapsed weather balloon, pin, 19 x 42 inches

Preparing for Disasters That Have Already Come (Detail), 2000

Preparing for Disasters That Have Already Come (Detail), 2000

The Mating of Hope and Debt, 2000

The Mating of Hope and Debt, 2000

Ink on paper, 14 x 11 inches

WICKED ASPIRATIONS: PARITY OR BUST, 1998-2000

Ambrose Bierce, in his Devil’s Dictionary, defines poverty as “a file for the rats of reform to gnaw on”. Wicked Aspirations: Parity of Bust is a caustic critique of the conditions and consequences of capitalism and current international economic policies. It features a cast of animal characters involved in global economic relationships who struggle collectively toward the mirage of economic parity, the alleviation of odious debt, the eradication of suffering, a transition to prosperity and popular sovereignty.