Some thoughts on my painting,” Big States”

I guess all those years of geography paid off because this “map” was made entirely from memory at a time when I made a series of smaller map paintings. This one was the crowning achievement.  I must have had Jasper Johns’ painting of the USA, “Map,” somewhere in the back of my mind. I wasn’t thinking of it specifically, but I recall upon having seen it several times at MOMA that I wanted to play with that form in a more interesting way: the general thought from a structural point of view was to make each state, or area, its own little abstract painting, and unify them into one larger abstract painting with the shape of our country. After all, metaphorically, isn’t that what a country as vast as ours is: an abstraction unified as a single whole?

Philosophically, serious art can be used in many ways. My intention is always to unite. Whether in my “language” paintings, where I juxtapose physics with poetry and sacred teachings, trying to present a unified vision of reality, or in a painting such as “Big States,” where I present the country as an idea and a thing of beauty, without regard to politics or affiliation. For me, this is one of the highest functions of art.

-Adam Shaw