The Contenders
The title of the painting is The Contenders. It’s a sociological study of the pecking order. For example, who are the contenders? The obvious two are the two in the center; however, if you were to study the expression and posture of each one, one might see another story. The obvious leader is the one in the center, sitting, while the others center around him. By their position in the group and expression you can pretty much guess with whom they align, ranging from the one on the far right who could be that follower of the more aggressive one of the contenders to the one on the far left, sitting, who appears more detached. My favorite is the one sitting on the far right, in the peanut gallery, who obviously isn’t buying any of it. But of course, given the chance, every last one of them would go for it, but in the meantime they play it safe and convince themselves they don’t care.
Now the real challenge for the artist, both the one in the story and me, was to create fourteen distinctly different individuals when the only model I could find willing to shave their heads leaving a scalp lock (since no self respecting Indian in the late 70s would consider parting with their long locks that had taken them years to grow), was me, the artist. So after posing for hundreds of photos and changing each one of my final creations to cover my tracks, presented this painting and dozens of others, all studies of the New York State Indians, in a gallery made specially for the occasion. And who walks in on the opening day when everyone of importance has shown up? My mom. To which she says “The cloning of Jimmy Mueller!”