America: A Mercy Killing

Copied Ed Bereal, America: A Mercy Killing, 1966-1974, mixed media including wood, metal, fabric, plastic, and paper with electric, kinetic, and pneumatic components, 27 1⁄4 x 55 1⁄2 x 45 in. (69.2 x 140.9 x 114.3 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1974.29, © 1968, Ed Bereal

Artwork Details

Title
America: A Mercy Killing
Artist
Date
1966-1974
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
27 1⁄4 x 55 1⁄2 x 45 in. (69.2 x 140.9 x 114.3 cm.)
Copyright
© 1968, Ed Bereal
Credit Line
Museum purchase
Mediums
Mediums Description
mixed media including wood, metal, fabric, plastic, and paper with electric, kinetic, and pneumatic components
Classifications
Subjects
  • Figure group
Object Number
1974.29
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1974.29

Artwork Description

 Ed Bereal began creating this piece after he witnessed the military force used against civilian protestors during the 1965 Watts Uprising in Los Angeles. The sculpture served as a model set for a stage play that Bereal wrote parodying the workings of race, money, and politics in American life.
 
Assembled from toys and pop culture imagery, the work depicts monsters of capitalism on an upper stage. They use money, media, and violence to control the classes below them.

Prominent counterculture figures of the 1960s--from Jane Fonda to Muhammad Ali--appear on the sculpture's right side, while the ground in front of them is littered with activists' placards. The entire scene unfolds atop an American flag.

Label text from The Shape of Power: Stories of Race and American Sculpture November 8, 2024 -- September 14, 2025