Obama visits Barcelona – in sand form!
Election night happened just over two months ago. “Will he?, won’t he?” we all asked, and finally, on 4th November 2008 he did. Obama was the talk of the town in 2008. The running of a black man for presidency and the excitement that the wave of change was coming, these elections symbolised many things, not least that Bush would no longer be in power.
Perhaps most importantly for the millions of Americans who voted for Obama in the elections are the key virtues that Obama represents; hope, optimism and security for the future, feelings that McCain just couldn’t stir up in the general public.
Obama doesn’t appear to have a hidden agenda, he is full of optimism and has positive views, all this has inspired artists to support his presidency. Support from a variety of celebrities has come through in the media, photos and paintings.
an enormous piece of sand was the setting where the Cuban artist, Jorge Rodriguez Gerada, created his artwork supporting Obama. In fact, it was so grandiose that it covered the forum beach in Barcelona close to many apartments in barcelona, and was a enormous depiction of the new President’s head (139×82), created by a small army of volunteers and contributors, made from plaster and sand in different colours and depicting the contours of the best known face of 2008.
After all the hype, what is left is Obama, and the “Expectations” that people have of him, which is why the title of this piece is just that. Regardless of winning or losing, Obama’s optimizim for the future showed America politics can get better and this outlook inspired the artist to create his work before Obama won the elections. The scale to which the world has followed the elections and Obama’s presence in the public eye is mirrored in the size of the art. Not only this, but the artist chose this particular location for the artwork, (which was picked up by Google Earth satellites) because of the multifaceted nature of Barcelona, a multicultural capital that is full to the brim of Europeans, North Africans and North, South and Central Americans, who fill many apartments barcelona.
We wait with baited breath to see what changes Obama can bring as president, especially considering that he is able to inspire people this much before his presidency.