The American People Series #18: The Flag is Bleeding 1967

Faith Ringgold made this striking painting, *The American People Series #18: The Flag is Bleeding*, using vivid colors and a direct style. The way she lays down these hues, flat and bold, it feels like she's not just painting a picture but making a statement, right? You see how the red paint drips down the flag? It's so raw and visceral. It makes me think about the real stuff, the grit and mess of living in a country with all its contradictions. There’s a tension here, with each figure caught in the flag's stripes. It’s like they are trapped but also part of this whole story. It reminds me a bit of some of Philip Guston’s later works, where he used a similarly simplified visual language and cartoonish style to address issues of race and identity in America. It shows how art keeps talking to itself, each artist picking up the thread from someone else, weaving it into something new and urgent. It's not about easy answers but staying with the questions, right?