THE OBAMA PROJECT
Two boxes, two separate times, presenting Haptic Drawings & Journal entries made while taking the pulse of the country during the emergence & final days of Obama’s Presidency
The First 100 Days of Obama
January 20 – April 29, 2009
The First 100 Days of Obama was initiated as a drawing and journal project on January 20, 2009, the occasion of the inauguration of Barack Obama as the new President of the United States. For each day, Stephen Vincent—artist, poet and writer—created a journal account and a “haptic” drawing. Made with pen and ink, the abstract marks emerged from a close listening to public and/or private sounds of the particular day. The original drawings and a printed volume, pairing the art and journal pages, were then gathered and shelved into a uniquely built silk, copper colored, bound box.
The Last 100 Days of the Presidency of Barack Obama
October 13, 2016 – January 20, 2017
In this parallel volume, the drawings are in color. Made with the aim of responding to the country’s pulse before and after the election of Donald Trump, the journal pages are further enriched by a thirty-day train trip. Approaching the writing and art work as if it were a national conversation, sites included those of historic significance: Chicago, Boston, Walden Pond, New York City, Gettysburg, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C, Atlanta among them. As with the first work, drawings and catalog are also shelved into a silver silk bound, companion box.
