Shifting States: Iraq

Luis Cruz Azaceta, Shifting States: Iraq, 2011, acrylic, prisma color pencil, oil stick, and shellac on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2014.52, © 2011, Luis Cruz Azaceta
Copied Luis Cruz Azaceta, Shifting States: Iraq, 2011, acrylic, prisma color pencil, oil stick, and shellac on canvas, 84 × 158 in. (213.4 × 401.3 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2014.52, © 2011, Luis Cruz Azaceta

Artwork Details

Title
Shifting States: Iraq
Artist
Date
2011
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
84 × 158 in. (213.4 × 401.3 cm)
Copyright
© 2011, Luis Cruz Azaceta
Credit Line
Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment
Mediums Description
acrylic, prisma color pencil, oil stick, and shellac on canvas
Classifications
Highlights
Object Number
2014.52
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2014.52

Artwork Description

Luis Cruz Azaceta, who immigrated to the United States from Havana during the Cuban Revolution, began a series he called Shifting States after seeing news coverage of the uprisings in the Middle East collectively referred to as the Arab Spring. Here a central black and orange shape floating in the cloud of a smoky explosion suggests the centrality of oil to the area's political turmoil. Attached to it are elements that resemble bombs, cannons, minarets, oil rigs, and the antennae that powered social media used by both the protesters and government surveillance teams. For Azaceta, this series "maps a new terrain" of our uncertain, current times.