ABOUT LIBERTY AND JUSTICE NOT FOR ALL

ARTWORK  Tranh: 

"The Scale of Justice: Vietnamese Salome, Tyrant, 
or Prisoner Behind Bar?"
enamel on paper, digitally inverted DNN C2009

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN LIBERTY AND JUSTICE ARE NOT FOR ALL?
TYRANT IMPRINTING HIMSELF ON A BOOK? 

OR PRISONER BEHIND BAR, 
LONGING FOR LIFE, LOVE, AND PEACE ?

OR, 

Can this be the Vietnamese Salome 
after Her Dance of the Seven Veils, glancing at 
the Vietnamese John the Baptist?

From K, a Texas lawyer, 2012:
“As for your painting, with the information about your dislike of the big guys in the law firms and your retiring from practicing law, in my mind, you are the lady at the bottom and the scales have swung against you in favor of the person in the picture above the scale, and I'm undecided if it is a lady or man, the face appears to be a man but the hair makes me think woman ( it confuses me in analysis of the painting). The red background reminds me of the devil or the red robe of a Bishop - the "big" guys in the law firms - and under the picture it appears to be a book which could be a law book (law of man) or the bible (law of God). The red sun means anger to me - anger for what happened to justice and the lady. The purple tulip modesty and affection, describing the lady. The leaf I'm drawing a blank on it."In any event the woman appears innocent, but the scales have been tipped by the person in the picture with the red and the book. 
I am no art critic and no literary critic by any means but that's what it appears to me. I like it and would hang it.” 


K was referring to the original art, enamel on cardboard, before the background was digitally converted to black.
[to be posted later]