"The Teddy Bear Market Uprising, a Revolution Squared" is a statistical drawing depicting fantastical soldiers fighting for or against the primary hero/villain of the drawing - a character called "Teddy Bear Market Uprising". He is pictured below, and he is a metaphor for the flop economy and the ever-present dream of the socialist utopia (and all the baggage that that dream carries with it in the wake of the 20th century). The soldiers are of five different colors that represent five different social classes: Upper (blue), Upper Middle (green), Middle (pink), Working (red), and Poor (yellow). The number of each colored soldiers will be put on the wall according to the results of a survey of a fairly random group of people done in or around Union Square Park on 14th Street in Manhattan. For this survey people were asked to state their social class (as they perceived themselves), and whether or not they supported The Teddy Bear Market Uprising. For the drawing, this last question will determine if the soldiers will stand on the left, in solidarity with The Bear, or on the right, in opposition to it.
So far, the Bear has an overwhelming majority of supporters...
1. "How would you define your social class:
Upper Class (rich); Upper Middle Class (professional); Middle Class; Working Class; or Lower Class?"
2.”Will you fight against, or for The Teddy Bear Market Uprising?”
"The Teddy Bear Market Uprising" will debut on October 1 at the opening reception for this year's Art In Odd Places festival at Theatre Lab (Friday, Oct 1, 7-9pm, 137 W 14th st.) http://artinoddplaces.org/, and will also be a part of No Assumption, a group show happening in October in Minneapolis, http://noassumption.wordpress.com/
Special thanks to fellow artists Mona Kamal for helping out with the survey, and to Vandana Jain for taking photos!
