Steven Hampton

Customs, 2006
Acrylic, oil, and spraypaint on canvas
84in x 72in

“Every day millions of messages hover, competing for our attention. Advertising, movies, television and the Internet produce so much signification that visual hysteria can result. I believe the influence of these media and the cultural signage they produce are always present, floating in our field of vision. The overlapping of these cultural signs borders on ephemerality while constantly contaminating the permanence of the original message. For clarity, images seem to be accompanied by logos or some form of branding. Colors and imagery specific to advertising slide seamlessly into images of entertainment. Entertainment mixes indiscriminately with news. This leaves us in an indeterminate situation, stuck somewhere between sober attention and thoughtless frivolity. My paintings mimic this visual state. Interrogating what makes themselves possible while keeping a sense of comedy and playfulness present, they evoke experiences that are analogous to the way in which we deal with imagery on a daily basis. I explore the possibility of making paintings with an ongoing war in the background.” – Artist’s statement

This piece isn’t directly about immigration, however customs, or the agency that controls what’s brought in and out of the country, also affects the relationship and perception between America and her neighbors. In relation to one of our border countries, Mexico, the drug wars are a critical factor in the surveillance of what is actually being transported back and forth between the US and Mexico. (This piece might be stretching the immigration and border control idea, I just thought it was interesting and the aesthetics appealed to me, especially since I love street art.)