SENATOR GREAVES

Senator Greaves’ art is “100% American Art,” not simply “Art.” Why did we chose this quote to start this review? The answer is simple. Some people see America as a country without an identity, a country of immigrants who have lost their roots but are only linked by large greasy fast food Hamburgers and fire arms ready to start the next school massacre…

But, if you’re a person who enjoys analysing different cultures, if you don’t regard stereotypes and empty words, you might be able to perceive behind the American culture the most interesting human experiment ever conducted in human history. Take people from all over the world and combine them in a massive melting pot, exalting all of their cultures, faiths, beliefs, and habits into a single massive identity, and you will have the most bizarre and fascinating population on the planet. And in the midst of all these millions upon millions of people, Senator Greaves demonstrates the genuine face of this mixed society by making the ideal mosaic of all these identities in his own artworks. In fact, if you look closely at all of his works, you will see not only pictures, but pages from the history of a country that is very new in comparison to the rest of the globe, yet ancient enough to reflect memories that are part of a common collective conscience. Astronaut space suits remind us of the vintage but never-died vision of the first man on the moon, insane monkeys with guns remind us of the stress of the question of fire weapons for a country that consents to their possession, and a black guy’s head in the hand of a big white man remember the racial question and the dreadful old days of racial segregation, masks of Asian monsters, and a boy with a helicopter toy remind the Pacific wars, Vietnam, and the current economic cold war with China. All of these topics, as previously stated, are not just pictures but memories, strong memories and actual dilemmas of an entire country that is still dealing with them, and this country is America, so it’s as if the entire America is speaking through this artist showing us a very strong and perceptible identity that someone who doesn’t want to see. This is a heritage shared by individuals of various religions, nationalities, cultures, and backgrounds, and it has never happened anywhere else on the planet other than America. But, in all of Senator Greaves’ art, there is always an artwork that pretends not to be related with this huge mosaic of an American unique face, and in fact, these specific artworks are immaculate, pure, lovely, and extraordinarily delicate, contrasting with the rest. These are portraits of native Americans, the true owners of the American continent, and they demonstrate a natural elegance, a natural majesty similar to old Greek statues. These natives looks like if they see us all as small bugs, little bugs and rats battling for some rubbish in a competitive atmosphere we call society, a society that is entirely totally disconnected from what the old indigenous used to love: nature, freedom, open spaces, and the desire to be who you truly are. Senator Greaves is having the same conversation with all of us, and he’s doing it in a very poetic way with his art, showing us the errors and mistakes done by a western culture that has lost its connection with nature, life, and it’s just made by lies that we prefer not to see because our god doesn’t consent to it. And our God is not locked up in a church, but in a bank, since money is the only true god here, not anything else. So, when this inner god speaks to us, Senator Greaves’ native american characters go from lovely human forms to scary skeletal figures, ghosts who hunt us and point their fingers, asking us, “Why?” 

Senator Greaves’ art should be exhibited among the work of Edward Hopper, Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Grant Wood in certain national museums because he portrays modern America in a way that only the great masters can!