Beth Costello has created a powerful series of work titled “What Do I Stand For” which includes “What Is And What Should Not Be “, 2014, mixed media collage, digital print, 6 x 8 inches which is included in “Deadlocked and Loaded”. I have been following her work for years and love how in her homages to Rockwell, she is reinventing the images for our current gun crisis in America. With this work, you will see the yellow, chalk outline of a child’s body under the little girl’s feet that makes it especially poignant. The juxtaposition of the historic painting with the body outline, a harrowing symbol of our times, when violent death, even for children, is a commonplace of urban life, gives a strong, activist message to our contemporary/current audience. I think Rockwell would have been very pleased that his iconic work is being used, and as he intended, to fight against racism. A bit of bigoted history, Rockwell was told he could not depict people of color on the covers of the magazines he illustrated for as anything other than a servant. Artists that use his imagery (and attribute to it) are keeping his legacy alive to create news ways of looking at ancient problems of racism and violence.
Costello says “This piece “What Is And What Should Not Be” was created as a reaction to the shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, on Aug. 9, 2014, in Ferguson, Mo. My way of protesting this horrific event was to join forces with Americas most iconic painters, Norman Rockwell and his painting The Problem We All Live With. This 1964 painting is an iconic image of the civil rights movement in the United States, and depicts Ruby Bridges, a six-year-old African-American girl, on her way into an all-white public school in New Orleans. The body outline is all too familiar. We still have far to go.
Beth Costello holds a BFA and Graphic Design from the Fashion Institute of Technology and an MA in Art from Long Island University. Currently she is a freelance graphic designer and an Adjunct Professor at Nassau Community College, NY.
See more at: bethcostello.net and @bethcostelloart
