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"Make ______ Great Again"
Artist: G. E. Vogt (San Diego, CA)
Sales for this work are handled by Pulp Stiction. Payment is made through this page.
Year: 2026 | Medium: Found materials: copy of US Constitution, history books, magazines, children's books | Dimensions: 11.5" x 8.5" inches | Display: Wall-hung (2D)
Artist Statement
The piece "Make ______ Great Again" explores the similarities between the current Trump administration and Hitler's regime in Nazi Germany. Although it has become common nearly to the point of triteness to compare Trump to Hitler, there are notably crucial threads that run between both which can help inform us about the greater dangers that we face as Americans under this administration.
Although the phrase "make Germany great again," was never a slogan in the way "make America great again" has been, both regimes use/d this emphasis on nostalgia for a idealized, yet fictional, past in order to justify a shift away from democratic principles towards a more authoritarian system of government. In both cases, the checks and balances of a democracy were manipulated, rewritten, ignored, and eventually in the case of 1930's Germany and in the beginning stages here, overturned. Due process and civil liberties for marginalized populations such as immigrants in contemporary America and Jews in Nazi Germany were ignored, then abolished, as these populations were held up as scapegoats for each country's economic hardships, and dehumanized to the point where the worst atrocities against them were normalized. To enact these crimes against humanity and maintain their power, both the Trump administration and Hitler regime encouraged and abetted acts of violence towards the scapegoated populations, through state-sanctioned organizations, such as ICE or the SS, and through consistent intimidation by their followers.
The images in this piece "Make ______ Great Again," are a collection from both US and Germany's histories: a copy of the US constitution burned to reveal images of Jewish children in a Nazi-mandated ghetto set against the US border wall; a patriotic American child from a 1950's storybook held up by a collection of SS officers (wearing coats that Greg Bovino, former head of ICE, famously copied); all of which barely covers the images of fire, smoke, and destruction lying just underneath. I hope for this piece to serve not only as a warning, but also a reminder that "history doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme."
About the Artist
I create art because I love to tell a story; in choosing certain elements for a piece, I seek to cause an impression, or a visceral reaction, or make a statement about a difficult narrative. We live in a time of increasingly complex stories: of non-stop stimulation, information, and connection that despite its increasing diversity is also becoming increasingly divided and antagonistic. It is as much incredibly exciting and overwhelming, as it is thrillingly global and deeply individual. Collage became my medium because of its ability to take advantage of this glut of information by juxtaposing a variety of sources or materials, particularly ones that seem disparate at first, to intertwine together a story of a complex relationship, whether it is on a broader, global scale, or that of a single individual struggling with their own personal world.
instagram: @gevogtart
www.aworldinpieces.com
Pulp Stiction: Collage as an Act of Resistance. Hopkins Hall Gallery, OSU, Oct 26 to Dec 11, 2026.
Artist: G. E. Vogt (San Diego, CA)
Sales for this work are handled by Pulp Stiction. Payment is made through this page.
Year: 2026 | Medium: Found materials: copy of US Constitution, history books, magazines, children's books | Dimensions: 11.5" x 8.5" inches | Display: Wall-hung (2D)
Artist Statement
The piece "Make ______ Great Again" explores the similarities between the current Trump administration and Hitler's regime in Nazi Germany. Although it has become common nearly to the point of triteness to compare Trump to Hitler, there are notably crucial threads that run between both which can help inform us about the greater dangers that we face as Americans under this administration.
Although the phrase "make Germany great again," was never a slogan in the way "make America great again" has been, both regimes use/d this emphasis on nostalgia for a idealized, yet fictional, past in order to justify a shift away from democratic principles towards a more authoritarian system of government. In both cases, the checks and balances of a democracy were manipulated, rewritten, ignored, and eventually in the case of 1930's Germany and in the beginning stages here, overturned. Due process and civil liberties for marginalized populations such as immigrants in contemporary America and Jews in Nazi Germany were ignored, then abolished, as these populations were held up as scapegoats for each country's economic hardships, and dehumanized to the point where the worst atrocities against them were normalized. To enact these crimes against humanity and maintain their power, both the Trump administration and Hitler regime encouraged and abetted acts of violence towards the scapegoated populations, through state-sanctioned organizations, such as ICE or the SS, and through consistent intimidation by their followers.
The images in this piece "Make ______ Great Again," are a collection from both US and Germany's histories: a copy of the US constitution burned to reveal images of Jewish children in a Nazi-mandated ghetto set against the US border wall; a patriotic American child from a 1950's storybook held up by a collection of SS officers (wearing coats that Greg Bovino, former head of ICE, famously copied); all of which barely covers the images of fire, smoke, and destruction lying just underneath. I hope for this piece to serve not only as a warning, but also a reminder that "history doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme."
About the Artist
I create art because I love to tell a story; in choosing certain elements for a piece, I seek to cause an impression, or a visceral reaction, or make a statement about a difficult narrative. We live in a time of increasingly complex stories: of non-stop stimulation, information, and connection that despite its increasing diversity is also becoming increasingly divided and antagonistic. It is as much incredibly exciting and overwhelming, as it is thrillingly global and deeply individual. Collage became my medium because of its ability to take advantage of this glut of information by juxtaposing a variety of sources or materials, particularly ones that seem disparate at first, to intertwine together a story of a complex relationship, whether it is on a broader, global scale, or that of a single individual struggling with their own personal world.
instagram: @gevogtart
www.aworldinpieces.com
Pulp Stiction: Collage as an Act of Resistance. Hopkins Hall Gallery, OSU, Oct 26 to Dec 11, 2026.