LIBERTY SERIES

LIBERTY EXECUTED

Liberty Executed is a sculptural act accentuating the degradation of democracy and human liberty in the United States of America early 21st century. The woven work unites powerful imagery of the American flag with a Hangman’s noose. The noose signifies a concurring history of bigotry and a society committing national suicide through the destruction of its core values and ideals. The barbed manila rope grips the flag in thirteen turns, representing the continued struggles and suffering of Americans as they combat increasing dominance by plutocratic political groups. The upside-down American flag represents a nation in distress during a moment of polarization and upheaval. The overall bouquet composition symbolizes the once beautiful national vision of “Liberty for All” with the hope of a better future.

 84” x 30” x 9” 

Single Continuous Manila Rope, United States of America Flag

LIBERTY SOLD

Liberty Sold is a woven statement on the auction of American democracy, the systematic transfer of political power from the citizenry to a concentrated class of economic elites whose influence has rendered the foundational promise of self-governance largely ceremonial.

The five-by-three-foot cotton American flag, hand-painted in gold metallic paint, is a deliberate transformation of the national symbol into commodity. Gold, the language of wealth and excess, consumes the flag’s familiar iconography, suggesting that the nation itself has been revalued not by its people, but by its price. The flag is no longer flown. It is traded.

Woven into the composition are 48 twenty-dollar bills in the upper region and 108 one-dollar bills in the lower region. The bills speak plainly to the transactional nature of modern democratic participation, where policy outcomes correlate overwhelmingly with the preferences of economic elites while the policy priorities of average citizens carry near zero independent impact on legislative outcomes.

Fifty laser cut and hand painted coins complete the work, each one etched with a single five-letter word that maps the moral terrain of contemporary American leadership culture: greed, power, egoic, reign, wield, crass, decay, filth, thief, toxic, shame, smear. The gear shape of each coin implies a machine at work, interlocking systems turning in concert, grinding forward with or without consent.

Liberty Sold does not mourn America so much as it is a warning. The weaving together of flag, currency, and coin asks the viewer to sit with an uncomfortable rational: that what we call freedom may have already been purchased, that the republic may function more as a illusion (brand) than a government, and that Lincoln’s vision of a nation of the people, by the people, for the people no longer exists.

GUARDIANS OF DEMOCRACY

In "Guardians of Democracy," Martin Linder explores the complex interplay between historical narrative and contemporary socio-political concerns. This oil on canvas painting, measuring 24 by 30 inches, serves as a visual dialogue between Caravaggio's iconic "Deposition of 1604" and Martin Linder's “Sacrificial Flag” sculpture.

By intertwining the conceptual threads of these two influential works, Martin aims to provoke reflection on the current state of democracy. In a world marked by increasing wealth disparities, rampant politicization, and the unsettling embrace of falsehoods, the guardians of democracy find themselves besieged by threats both overt and insidious.

The Liberty series serves as a wake-up call, disrupting complacency and inspiring action.

Through symbolism and allegory, Martin seeks to alert the citizenry to the ongoing erosion of democratic principles and the urgent need for vigilance and engagement.

As an artist, Martin believes in the transformative power of art to spark dialogue, challenge assumptions, and galvanize change. "Guardians of Democracy" invites viewers to confront uncomfortable truths, to question the status quo, and to reclaim their role as active participants in the preservation of democracy.

May this painting serve as a beacon of hope, reminding us of our collective responsibility to safeguard the principles that underpin our society. 

Petaluma Arts Center Juror Award 2026

30" x 24"

Oil on Canvas

VIRUS OF GREED

We live in an age of unbounded greed.  Where the quiet understanding that one’s labor should sustain both the individual and the collective has been steadily eroded. The virtue of us has been displaced by the doctrine of me and mine.

What we are witnessing is not merely a cultural shift, but a disease of greed, spreading silently and without conscience through the fabric of society.

The artwork Virus of Greed gives form to this affliction. The image presents a gold virus propagating within a petri dish filled with oil, beautiful in its construction, sinister in its meaning. The gold speaks to our obsession with wealth, the oil to the slick, frictionless ease with which this hunger moves through communities and institutions. The petri dish frames it as what it is, something to be observed, studied, and ultimately confronted.

The take-as-much-as-possible impulse no longer lurks at the margins of civilization, it has become its organizing principle. This work asks the viewer to sit with that discomfort. To recognize the pathogen, and to ask what immunity might look like.

THIEF OF LIBERTY

Thief of Liberty is a woven sculpture symbolizing the theft and destruction of the United States of America’s democratic values by the world’s super elites.

36" x 12"

Red Neck Tie and United States Currency