Artwork © Anthony Carter

____________________________________________________________________

The “Go Loopy” Art Bus Project – Summer 2011

The Go Loopy Art Bus

The Artists Involved

____________________________________________________________________

Ryan Bentzinger , & Charlie Pollmiller ( the 2 other fellas pictured below) came with me to paint this bus. Ryan painted the castle in the sky and Charlie painted the “Go Loopy” on the front and back. ____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

I painted Chief Blackhawk – the native dweller of the place I call my home town – The Quad Cities (Iowa, Illinois – mainly Davenport/Rock Island). Of course, he didnt call it that. I paint him to honor him and his peoples final fight for the lifeway of his people; free from blatant tyranny and oppression at the hands of Americans – the image of a true struggler to the very end. If he had succeeded... ____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

What would the prevailing scene be like? I can imagine that world also. To the right of Blackhawk I painted a rural Iowa farmstead and sky, or as it could be. Winding around the front of the bus a white picket/vent fence sections off a new suburban development; billboard in the sky. Where every house is the exact design and color as the next. Every blade of grass the same length (always), every vehicle a minivan (never not a JD Power and associate award winner) and all of it a reflection of society. Blackhawk contradicts these prevailing scenes of the “American” homestead and sponsor. But even the bus I paint on, the medium I paint with, and my very presence contradicts the image of Blackhawk and his image, ours (mine). Still, his face is not far from the memory of what he and his people fought for and against; a way of life pressed upon another. ___________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

Walking down the bus away from the suburbs we go downtown, cross a bridge. Weaving through the rolling Midwest hills overlooking the city lights, a farmer in silhouette dances in the constellations under the moon playing an old love song. Hitch a circus train down the line and get off at the stop when jazzy tunes awaken your senses beneath a colorful Geisha Tree. Wander on. ____________________________________________________________________

Suburbs to Downtown ... & Beyond

____________________________________________________________________