Andrew Ellis Johnson

2017, Altered sickle and head of sledgehammer, 16.5 x 8.25 x 2.5 inches

Union is another piece that reflects Johnson’s sense of irony—and sense of history. The sculpture merges a hammer and sickle, distinct tools originally meant to represent the coming together of the factory worker and the farmer. By merging them into one tool, we might hope for a doubled strength. Instead, both are rendered dysfunctional. Union is a lament for the state of unions in the US today, hobbled by long, well-financed campaigns by conservative foundations and business groups, especially against employees in the public sector. There is a line in Bertolt Brecht’s United Front Song: “It's nobody's work but the worker's own / to set the worker free.” Time to sing it.

From Marx@200 catalogue, exhibited at SPACE in Pittsburgh in 2018

2016, Conductor’s baton with sledgehammer head, 22.25 x 7 x 2.25 inches