What is Memorial Day without the stars and stripes? The ultimate patriotic symbol has come to represent much more than a national flag, sparking fierce debate concerning everything from civil liberties and religion to the nuances of how the physical object should be revered. In James Lee Byars’s The American Flag, he reimagines this symbol by elongating and compressing it, while alluding to the controversial transition between Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford during the Vietnam War, a war which the artist was vehemently opposed to. It goes on show at Michael Werner Gallery in London from 1 June, alongside a reimagining of Germany’s national banner.
