American Real Estate (2017)

American Real Estate is a work that emphasizes the toxic political ideology of prioritizing money over people, a philosophy that is often a centerpiece of capitalist economics. The work uses quotes from speeches made by both Ronald Reagan and Martin Luther King, Jr. These two men were polar opposites politically, effectively representing a political ideology that prioritizes money in Reagan and a contrasting ideology that prioritizes people in Martin Luther King, Jr. In quoting Reagan, I highlighted his strategy of making inappropriately simplistic (and perhaps offensive) analogies when describing his economic philosophies. As a result of their simplicity, these analogies discredit the needs of the lower class. Martin Luther King, Jr. takes a direct approach to describing the plight of the lower class, particularly among African-Americans. His quotes tell stories about injustices in open housing (drawing attention to the injustice of the practice of redlining in the United States), while revealing capitalist economic philosophies to be morally bankrupt. Persisting throughout this piece are the sounds of coins (representing the poverty-stricken lower class), the sounds of cash registers (representing the greed of the wealthy upper class), and the sounds of a string quartet meant to give emotional weight to the content of the work.

Sculpture- Type D Assets by Broderick Flanigan