Hindsight Is Always 20/20
public sculpture and print series, 2008
Commissioned for the 2008 Democratic National Convention, Hindsight is Always 20/20 is a work I developed using data from the American Presidency Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The piece consists of 41 Snellen-style eye charts, plus title and essay, showing the top 66 words of each American presidents’ State of the Union addresses from George Washington through George W. Bush. The charts reflect the themes, ideals, and topics of their age, allowing viewers to experience American history through political rhetoric.
The piece has been touring nationwide since 2008 in two versions. The first is a large- scale public sculpture of 43 steel light boxes illuminated with fluorescent tubes backlighting a Lexan screen containing each president’s eye chart. This sculpture has toured from Denver to the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art in Scottsdale, Arizona, the PULSE Art Fair in New York City, and the Second Street Gallery and Monticello estate in Charlottesville, Virginia. The light boxes are built to Snellen scale, allowing viewers to test their vision against that of the presidents.
The second version is a set of 43 letterpress prints at ! the size of the light boxes. This set was first shown in a solo exhibition at the Weisman Art Museum in Minneapolis during the 2008 Republican National Convention, and has been shown at museums and galleries around the country.
As the essay for the piece states, the project was envisioned as a way to emphasize the State of the Union address as a significant aspect of the power relationship between the executive and legislative branches of the U.S. government, as well as comment on the metaphor of “vision” in evaluating leadership throughout history.
