Houston's flag is a subject of criticism. For example, in covering how Texas cities fared in the NAVA ranking of 150 U.S. city flags John Nova Lomax in Texas Monthly wrote: And after [Dallas' flag at number 21] there’s a huge drop-off to number 55: Houston, where the flag dates back to 1840, when the city was… Continue reading Houston, We Have A Problem
You might think that multinational patriotism would involve pledging allegiance to Barclays, but Onjena Yo's project, the Multinational Patriot Flag & Blog Series, seeks to re-imagine conventional notions of patriotism in more inclusive, multi-national ways. This series grows from the desire to see American icons used in a way that represents the United States as the melting… Continue reading Multinational Patriotism
At Brighton Beach not far from downtown Melbourne, Australia is a famous row of colorfully painted "bathing boxes" (19th century huts built as shelters and changing rooms for beach goers). Box Number Two, painted to resemble the Australian flag, is a popular photographic subject. Very popular. Consider this selection of postings found on Instagram. Is there… Continue reading That Australian Flag Bathing Box
Here are our 20 most-viewed* blog posts of the year. #20 - Andy Warhol and the American Flag (226 views) #19 - Fargo -- A Flag for the Flagless? (247 views) #18 - Heart Flags (257 views) #17 - American Flag Refreshed for 2015 (303 views) #16 - The Flag of HDYNATION (307 views) #15 -… Continue reading Our Most Popular Posts of 2015
Art Basel is a series of international contemporary art fairs with a large online catalog. Their Miami Beach 2015 event is happening now, with 10,665 artworks by 3086 artists. Here are 15 works that feature flags. US Flag Bernstein, Judith: Union Jack-Off on US Policy in Vietnam, 1967 Ethridge, Roe: Louise with Flag, 2014 Horowitz,… Continue reading Flag Art at Art Basel
Guardian art critic and famed contrarian Jonathan Jones, that's who. The decision this summer by the British team at the World Athletics Championships in Beijing not to include the Union Jack on team uniforms prompted Jones to write an essay slamming the UK flag. He titled it We don't need the union jack on Team… Continue reading Who Doesn’t Like the Union Jack?
To encourage loyalty, tobacco companies used to give away a small collectible piece of printed fabric (a "silk") with each pack of cigarettes. Kovels Antiques notes, "popular subjects included actors and actresses, animals, baseball players, college mascots and seals, flags, generals, Indians, kings and queens, U.S. presidents, and Hamilton King girls." This 1915 set from the… Continue reading Animals with Flags
Nimai Kesten (www.nimaikesten.com) grew up in an abusive Hare Krishna boarding school in Lake Huntington, NY before transforming "into a loud-mouthed, rebellious, New York City graffiti writing skateboarder" and surfer. He writes in his bio: In his early 20's, Nimai began to look at the life he carved out on the streets of New York for himself… Continue reading Flag Art by Nimai Kesten
by Ted Kaye, Vexilloid Tabloid #45 (April 2014) I recently visited Cuba and saw a profusion of national flag use—often as an instrument of political messaging. Here’s a sampling.
What flag designs make good pinwheels? Let's consider... South Korea: The Taegukgi lends itself extremely well. ... China: Does not seem to be common, but here is an example. ... Hong Kong: The design is practically already a pinwheel. But has anyone made it into one? ... Israel. ... Palestine. We couldn't find flag-based pinwheels, but we did… Continue reading Flag Pinwheels
Portland Flag Association 