Here Bifidus Jones portrays themselves as a Cyclops, a reflection of the artist’s height, strength, and the fact that they are blind in their left eye due to a childhood accident. The Cyclops holds a club in the right hand to defend themselves against ignorance. The left hand rests in the beard to reflect art history’s formal pose for the viewer. Armor includes elbow pads and shin guards with lion faces at the knees. The pink garment is handsewn from sheep’s wool. A sword in a tail-like sheath reposes in a cloth tied around the waist. The bird is a woodpecker and symbolizes the Belgian artist René Magritte who often used bird imagery in his art. The background text is derived from Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself” but Jones has changed the pronoun from the singular “I” to the plural “We”. The map fragments come from the state of Vermont which bears the state motto: “Freedom and Unity.”

Acrylic on canvas

Size: 24 x 36 x 1¼ inches

Price: $2300