I’m planning my first visit to the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, Connecticut, so I checked out their web site. Happily, the museum is featuring one of Dave Cole’s American flags. Cole is a conceptual artist whose work is as strong on social and political commentary as it is on celebrating the physical side of art making. He is best known for his startling reinventions of the American flag. For instance, “Memorial Flag (Toy Soldiers)” is made entirely from red, white and blue “troops”; a bristling thicket of tiny soldiers that turn the American flag’s design into manufactured postures of war.

The Aldrich will be displaying Cole’s “Flags of the World.” “Flags of the World” is zigzag stitched from the red, white and blue scraps cut from 192 flags that represent the countries who are United Nations members. This particular piece resonates for me. It draws on the symbolic representations of nationalism to redraw the American flag as a new and inclusive territory. Cole is trespassing on sacrosanct notions of sovereignty and national identity in favor of collectivity, an idea that is largely foreign to the American view of itself. Where Cole sees a whole in the parts, others see only parts that threaten the whole. What do you think?  Check it out!

P.S. For those of you who like a little DIY in your artwork, Cole has also done several knitted pieces that are worth a look. It’s your grandmother’s sweaters on steroids. He masculinizes the craft by working on a huge scale with unconventional “yarns” that turn any homey associations we may have on their head. For instance, he created a six-foot teddy bear (“Lead Teddy.”) by knitting lead ribbons over a lead armature. It probably rivals Richard Serra’s work for shear weight. There’s also a series of baby clothes knit from Kevlar strips. Jarring, but effective.

Photo above is from the Aldrich website. All rights are reserved.