Christopher Simmons
Giclée Print on Archival Paper
31.5” x 27”
Edition of 6

In the months leading up to Donald Trump’s 2016 election Anheuser Busch temporarily renamed its Budweiser beer “America” — creating an artifact that transcended its commercial purpose to become an act of potent political commentary. With snippets of the national anthem, pledge of allegiance, and motto adorning the $1 beer, these revered democratic texts are relegated to decorative status. Even in its unaltered form the can presents itself as a deeply cynical metaphor. Consumerism is implicated as an American value. A national identity appears manufactured and packaged for mass consumption. Democracy becomes disposable.

It’s hard to decide whether the conflation of America and shitty beer is more an act of marketing hubris or razor-sharp editorial commentary. Is Belgain-owned Budweiser so American that is America? Is America—once a symbol of freedom and “equality” little more than a product to be hyped and sold to the masses on the empty promise of patriotism?

Though the re-branded beer was only sold for a few months, I stumbled upon this flattened version in Yosemite National Park in June, 2022. Empty, discarded, and obsolete, it’s metaphorical significance seemed only more apt.

Signed and numbered in pencil in the lower right-hand corner.