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An assemblage from the America series of portraits, inspired by the novel by Franz Kafka. A series of faces – Evelyn, Norman, Lulu, and here, Bessie – represent archetypes of Americans, created from modeling clay, acrylic paint and found objects from children's toys and consumer articles, items left behind by our consumer society. Neuman calls his work "fusion art". Each portrait has its own voice installed on a sound chip or mp3 player. The combination of colors and used materials evokes a very eccentric visual impression, presenting the world in its current twisted form, a form which absolutely must be corrected. Massive consumption, toxic waste, ethnic prejudice, hate, and heaps of useless objects that our culture produces day in, day out. Although the title indicates a specific direction, America is not the only target. Although Neuman sees in it the cause of all misery, he turns to the entire world, which perilously finds itself beyond any control. Born in Prague, Shalom Neuman has lived in New York since 1980. Most of his family were killed at Auschwitz; his family and was later forced to emigrate from Communist Czechoslovakia in 1948. He received his MFA in painting and sculpture from Carnegie-Mellon University, and completed a post graduate fellowship in painting and sculpture at Indiana University. A complete series of portraits could be seen in Prague, largely at the National Gallery in 2011. His works are also represented in private and public collections around the world, including the National Gallery in Prague, Guggenheim Museum in New York, Musée d'art moderne et d'art contemporain in Nice and Buenos Aires Museum of Modern Art. His internationally acclaimed work is filled with irony, paradoxes and satire. As Neuman explains, "As an artist I want to bridge the existing barriers between all disciplines such as painting, sculpture, light, sound, performance theater, video and digital art. I want to make these individual disciplines indecipherable from one another, creating a multi-disciplinary and multi-sensory environment ..."