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Title	God's Away On Business
Artist	Stuart, Phillip H.
Subject - LCSH	Art, Modern Ball State University--Students
Exhibition Date	2011
Artist Statement	For this BFA thesis exhibition I have created a body of work that critiques the economic disparity in the United States and effects on society in particular its impact on the inner cities, minorities, and the rise in violent crime. To paraphrase Karl Marx, capitalism only works as long as it has someone to exploit. It's true, free market capitalism does produce far more losers than winners. Let us forget for one moment the way that the United States has exploited other nations as sources for cheap labor and focus within our own borders. The wealthiest 10% of Americans control well over 80% of the country's wealth and some economists believe it is closer to 90% leaving nine out of every ten United States residents to fight and scrape over a meager one tenth of the money available in this country. It's no wonder that people drink, get high, get low. No wonder we fight and steal and kill. We have become broken and desperate and left to the scraps of the wealthy. The trickle down economy that we were promised trickled up instead, and the consequences of that occurrence are a wide spread disconnect, disenfranchisement, and outright discontentment and dissidence among the lower classes. These paintings are executed by layering transparent glazes of acrylic and ink wash on canvas over Xerox toner transfers using acrylic polymer medium. The transferred images are taken from magazine and newspaper coverage of various extreme incidents of pressures on the lower classes reaching a breaking point and resulting in large scale incidences of violent crime. Paint is then layered on to create a bleak and desolate cityscape echoing the desperate plight that is afflicting America's cities. By veiling the paint on in thin layers of increasingly darker colors the surface becomes dark and obscure and helps to reflect a sense of despair. I add peat moss into the acrylic to create a surface tension that is a metaphoric reference of the dirty, overlooked and swept aside citizens that the images and ideas that the paintings deal with. The works are a red flag, a call to action, meant to call attention to the fact that the system in which we live is broken and benefits only a few. The rich get richer and the poor fight amongst themselves. We are all down in the dirt. The gritty, grungy, grimy dirt. We are the dirt. And everybody says that God is on their side. But really, God's away on business. And we're in the shit now. Hope you brought your shovel. My work is inspired by the following painters: Anselm Kiefer, Leon Golub, Philip Guston, Robert Rauschenberg, Sigmar Polke, David Salle, and Jasper Johns. The following musicians, writers and philosophers have also inspired me: Tom Waits, Bob Dylan, Lou Reed and The Velvet Underground, Shane MacGowan and The Pogues, Charles Bukowski, Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, Hunter S. Thompson, Brendan Behan, Adam Smith and John Maynard Keynes. Also Emperor Joshua Abraham Norton I of San Francisco has inspired me to believe that one man with a crazy notion can change the hearts and minds of people. And of course Jesus Christ. Hey, he was a liberal too. Thanks to Scott Anderson, David Hannon, Hannah Barnes, Heidi Jensen, Marilyn Derwenskus, Nina Marshall and all other Ball State faculty who have taught me and retaught me all that I know about art. Thanks to all of the Art Kids past and present who have made and continue to make Ball State a great place to study art. Thanks to my friends and family who have lifted me up and supported me even if it was only morally.
Subject - TGM	Art Mixed media
Time Period	2010s (2010-2019) Twenty-first century, C. E.
Medium	Acrylic, acrylic toner transfer, India ink, spray paint, and peat moss on canvas
Series	God's Away On Business
Exhibition	2011 Spring Thesis Exhibition
Physical Dimensions	152 x 102 cm.
Media Type	Still image
Original Format	Art Color images
File Format	image/jpeg
Pixel Width	5055
Pixel Height	3367
Digitization Equipment	Canon EOS Rebel T2i EOS 550D Digital Camera
Digital Identifier	BSU-SAC-4012.jpg
Collection	Ball State University Student Art Collection
Collection URL	http://libx.bsu.edu/cdm4/collection.php?CISOROOT=/BSUArtists
Copyright	Copyright 2011, Ball State University and the original artist. All rights reserved.

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