Two States

About the artwork

New York’s iconic Times Square is the motif for this print. I made a drawing of it after a visit to the city in around 2008. During this time the United States was in dire need of soldiers in its war on terrorism in the wake of the attack on the Twin Towers. Right in the center of Times Square the U.S. Army had set up a futuristic barracks where passersby were given an opportunity to enlist, and perhaps find a new career among all other possibilities in the hyper-commercial place that this particular Square is. It made me think of the complexity of life in modern Western society. The title, of course, carries a lot of meaning, not least in a political way, but also in a military way. It’s sort of a wordplay on that subject, indicating that there’s two sides, and often more, to most things.