This artwork refers to the firing of photographer Simon Edelman, from the Dept. of Energy after he photographed former Energy Secretary Rick Perry hugging coal czar Bob Murray, during the first Trump administration. Murray’s wish list to save the coal industry became administration policy.

The American colonists overthrew one tyrant – King George lll – however, their descendants created an oligarchy, whereby oil, gas, data and  media moguls,such as Rupert Murdoch and Robert Mercer, pictured, now try to slow our transition to a clean energy economy in an age of climate crisis. The use of Toile fabric signifies opulence and excess from that time to today.

Sledding Down a Slippery Slope uses immediately recognizable images and evocative metaphors to bring home the reality of the threats posed by commercial exploitation of vital ecosystems. A child’s sled provides a reminder of carefree childhood pleasures that will be lost in a warming world. It also references the iconic survival story of Joseph Beuys who was rescued by Tartars when his plane was shot down in Crimea in 1943. The survival metaphor takes another form in the hanging checkerboard. Its squares have been painted to create an X that portrays the metamorphosis of soybeans into the storm clouds that are engulfing our warming world. The language of games here is of course ironic, a point made by the gym rings from which the board is suspended. Recalling the rings from which circus acrobats hang, they serve as a reminder that all life, human and non-human, hangs in the balance. 
– art critic, Eleanor Heartney