American Zombie

© 2009 JON MAY. All rights reserved. All images are copyright and may not be reproduced without the artist written permission.

Zombie -  a person who is or appears to be lifeless, apathetic, or totally lacking in independent judgment.

I started to make a zombie because I like texture and color, simple as that.  I had a picture of this zombie in my mind so as a sideline while working on other projects, I did this as an exercise.  Somehow the simple zombie sculpture evolved and end up as what you see here.  It's actually quite interesting how many people are angered and insulted by this sculpture.  After all, I am attacking everybodies favorite corporate brands and maybe even free enterprise itself.  That's not the case. My intention is merely to point out our own weaknesses and lack of perspective in our present American culture. which I believe has been slowly cultivated through consumerism, politics and apathy.   So here is my explanation for this;

The Zombie represents us, the fact that it is a marionette suggests someone else is manipulating our actions. 

The brand overloaded T-shirt  represents the power of marketing corporate identity and our ability to fall prey to repetition in advertising.  This feeds into our needs to follow trends and to "Keep Up With The Joneses".

on one arm a tattoo shows what is important to us, the other  shows that there are no taboo age categories when it comes to the psychology of propaganda and marketing.  Everyone is vulnerable.

The bar code on the zombie's

ankle points out our tendency to

be bought and sold, the

numbers on this particular zombie

code happen to be my birth date,

of course representing me.

The gold control handle shows the connection to power.  the fact that it's beat up, peeling and gray underneath reveals that it may not be or worth what it seems.  With nails used as the connection between us and the controller I'm pointing out this is not a good thing.

The  hand pulling the strings has a ring with the does not exist symbol on it, that is up to the viewer to decide if this entity is fictional or real?

I'm sure this is what irritable bowel  looks like no doubt caused by the the large quantities of crap we willingly swallow, literally and metaphorically.

The Monolith from which the hand is emerging represents change,  we live in a different time now.  One world order, corporate domination, secret ruling organizations, there are so many theory's to make us feel powerless and impotent, choose one if you would like.

On the sleeve are two silver cufflinks, mascots for the Democrat and Republican parties meant to symbolize the underlying agendas and the the blind allegiance that many people have to these parties.  We should open our eyes to see the failure in our political system which allows this  monolith to grow.

In his translucent stomach you can see that he swallowed a key,  This has a  simple meaning, we have the key within us to do something about current state we're in.  (NO PHOTO)

The broken tombstone lying in puddles of crude represents the death of America as we know it, the missing number sits on top of the monolith indicating the monolith is growing from or may be the cause of our country's decline.  The Chinese character scratched in the mud indicates, the cause of death was suicide.  The viewer can only guess as to why it's written in Chinese.

Finally, the graffiti on the monolith is actually hope. The defacing of this unknown anomaly  shows our defiance to controlling powers, our need to fight for our freedoms, to be individuals and to make our own paths.   The fact that we live in a country where we  do have a voice still exists, only  if we  wake from our current zombie state .

The American Zombie is epoxy, fiberglass and translucent urethane (modern materials that will outlast us all) with a few L.E.D.'s to light his intestines and brain.

His source of power for the L.E.D.'s  will come from any AC outlet.

American Zombie