Election 2020
Every painting in Chronicle of an Unquiet Age documents the defining events, people, and issues that shaped its moment in history. Created in real time as events unfolded, each work serves as both an original oil painting and a historical record, reflecting the belief that the news of today is the history of tomorrow.
TRTA-2020-018 | November 2020 | Oil on Canvas | 34" x 26"
Election 2020 in the Vision 2020 series captures Election Day November 3, 2020, when record turnout, intense polarization, and unprecedented anticipation brought millions of Americans to the polls. After months of campaigning shaped by the pandemic, protests, and nonstop media conflict, the vote became a defining national event.
Election night started out pretty normal as Trump was ahead in most states. But during the middle of the night something curious was happening. This painting reflects the rolling election-night coverage, reflecting themes of turnout, mail-in voting, contested narratives, and the struggle for key states. The imagery conveys a nation waiting anxiously for results while deeply divided over what the outcome would mean. Images of Dominion Voting Machine, Smartmatic logos and comments of overseas servers now dominate the air ways. Main stream media announces Joe Biden the winner. Images of Syndney Powell and Jay Sekulow are featured as terms like "Stop the Steal" and "Sharpie Gate" indicate something was a miss.
Created in real time, the painting preserves the atmosphere of suspense, civic energy, and uncertainty that surrounded Election Day and the days that followed and it records a moment when democracy itself felt central to the national conversation.
