Artist John McEnroe has created three wall mounted constructions painted entirely in flat black. The construction of each piece is similar to that of a snap-apart spree system found in toy model kits, however, instead of parts, these are objects that are relevant to the state of Colorado. Some objects in the piece refer to the land while others are less distinguishable such as a man with a shovel in Making the Land. Each of the three pieces has a different theme and title. Marking the Land focuses on the way people, animals, industry and others have marked the landscape. Survival focuses on when people first moved to Colorado.. Artifacts is the most abstract of the three because the objects mimic some of the icons in our state. “In the context of connectedness, these objects live a life within a model kit as well as standing alone. It is my hope that Model State is a successful mingling of pride, history and contemporary issues.” Each kit may be interpreted as an individual model but we may take them apart and create our own model state.
