Freedom prosperity at any price (version rouge)

The work features a man dressed in a long, light-colored tunic, bearing the U.S. flag and carrying in his arms a corpse depicted in black. The red background creates a violent, urgent atmosphere, reinforced by the presence of the words "freedom" and "prosperity at any price" inscribed on the work. This slogan questions the great American principles and denounces a capitalist society prepared to commit the worst atrocities to achieve prosperity. Used to depicting urban misery and ultra-violence, Cleon Peterson drew his inspiration from his tumultuous life in New York in the 1990s. Having been addicted to heroin and confronted with isolation, prison and psychiatric hospitals, he depicts these situations of distress that drive individuals towards extreme acts such as theft, violence and self-destruction. The work's "flat" aesthetic, inherited from ancient Greek vases and the works of Matisse, is updated by the artist's underground culture and personal history. The work has similarities with the work of Shepard Fairey, with whom the artist collaborates.