Everywhere, Nearby & Nowhere At All

Once driven by opportunity to expand ‘from sea to shining sea,’ we’ve witnessed the US perpetually fill-in the spaces between. From trail to train (first wagon, then locomotive), then farm to grange to towns swelling. Cities, sprawling into one another. Connectivity, as a term, is most likely associated with the contemporary digital era, and yet is the driving force behind capital expansion and human dominance over nature. From cloud’s length, at night, the landscape resembles a rambling constellation of population density — an information graphic of Progress’ insatiable appetite.
Despite the alarming view of an increasingly singular Manifest Destiny, the fabric of connective intersection describes the more intimate collaboration and collision of daily life. Back on the ground, we concern ourselves most commonly with individuality by family, neighborhood, church and local sports organizations. While fundamental to society, neoliberal and digital omnicultures press down across this mesh with a flattening effect.
Everywhere, Nearby & Nowhere At All takes the middle-view: magnifying the local function as reflected through an infinite web of ubiquity. The contemporary moment is at a crossroads. The pattern of connection is presented in a fluid, draping medium that represents the ultimate, sprawling anonymity from which Rugged Individualism once grew.
The two-pieces, hung flat, measure roughly 3.5 x 5.5 feet — its specs (including underlying grid for stars and stripes) match that of an authentic US flag. All vector linework is original: tracks, tressels, roads and more all using complex custom patterns and pattern brushes within Illustrator.
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