50x50x2 Oil, wax, archival paper and bank note on panel.
Artist: Brian Drake
Date: Fall 2020
Series: Broken Banknote
NOTES & DETAILS
Dictator’s Guide To Wealth is layered over obsolete Ugandan currency from the 1970s, reinterpreting Idi Amin’s rule through the lens of corruption, economic collapse, and foreign political entanglements. The work interrogates the UK politics with Amin’s regime, exposing the paradox of colonial legacies and authoritarian rule. Through dense layers of oil paint, the imagery distorts and recontextualizes currency once emblematic of state control, now a relic of economic mismanagement and exploitation. The subversive layering challenges notions of power and legitimacy, forcing the viewer to confront the consequences of political complicity and the fragility of national sovereignty.
Shown in its first submittal, this piece has been on a lease program for some time, but will be available in 2025 for display, to a new audience.
2021 SHOWS: Shockboxx Intergalactic 2 Hermosa Beach, CA
