It's Not All Black and White

This piece I completed a few years ago. The pigs on top I made in Sue Latta's resin workshop. They are glued on a block of wood. I was never completely satisfied with this piece and took some pliers and a razor blade to it and took it apart.  I am working on a series of pieces using plastic cast off pieces and wanted to incorporate this into that series. I was going to attach the whole block to another piece but when I glued the pigs on top they extend off the back edge so it would not lay flat.

 I painted this frame black and added a backing covered with black scrapbook paper. I still wasn't satisfied and took it over to my friend Marianne's Studio for input. She said it's too bad that all the black items are devils, guns etc. and the white items are cute bunnies and hearts. But that's the way these things come and my plan was not to paint the objects but to use them as they are. 

This is the final incarnation. I overcame the problem of all things depicted in white as good and all things depicted in black as evil by incorporating color. My mother tends to be a person that see's things as black or white. That has never been me. As a Libra I can weigh both sides of an issue and always try to see the others viewpoint.

So here goes- my 12" x 16" "Where's Waldo" assemblage I have included things that are controversial, American Flag = extreme right tea party vs a more liberal philosophy - the gun -2nd Amendment vs those that don't think we all need to be carrying guns) cellphone =radiation and government spying, Food=GMO's and what's gonna kill us or give us dementia or cancer, the stethoscope = the Ebola crisis, the Ken doll with the bicycle helmet = helmet laws vs personal freedom,  the computer- is technology making us all less social and is this just another venue for Big Brother to watch us?, The cow and the cheese = dairy, is it good for us, what about antibiotics?, The woman's torso with the red light pointing to it = body image issues and the media, high heel shoe's and surgery, the dice represent gambling (state lotteries giving $ to education?), Dinosaur, is the earth really only 6,000 years old despite scientific data?, and hence the Jesus fish. The white tennis shoe represents exercise- how much is too much?, The spider- people hate spiders but they are part of the ecosystem, the lamb= veganism, vegetarianism, is it healthier?,  lady bug=pesticides, Red Bull pull tab- really?, Eagle= new wilderness designations?, camera= photographing in the wilderness for a fee, coke= obesity epidemic, Halloween and Christmas. paganism or religious holidays?