Pothier is one of us narrative painters here in Portland, OR and this painting comes from a series he started long before the current pandemic (click the link in Bio to read my latest article about prophetic painters). Here we see the personifications of corporate America and the American people. Pothier writes that he wanted the man in the suit to look “punchable and sort of snobby, with a little smirk” while the other man of mixed ethnicity in the gas mask stands with clenched fists. At this moment we do not yet know if the older man will simply walk away with all the cash in hand or if the masked man will attack, thereby upsetting the status quo and causing a revolution. If I had to bet, I would say that we get a repeat of 2008 and that the man in the suit walks away scot-free.
