Fallen Dreamer
- Tom Otterness
Otterness utilizes cartoon imagery to help raise social consciousness. Combining comical and lovable figures taken from cartoons with grand narratives of social struggle, he creates a new form of socialist realism. He thus appropriates the language of pop-culture and revolutionizes its content. Tom Otterness rose to fame in the eighties and was committed to public art. Otterness' comical characters are engaged in sociopolitical battles on a micro-scale. His leftist politics are also embodied in his own conception of artistic production. His artwork "Fallen Dreamer," was inspired by the giant Olmec heads created by ancient Central American cultures.
© Tom Otterness, courtesy Marlborough Gallery, New York
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