The Enemy Amongst Us
Lockett was the youngest artist working in the Birmingham-Bessemer group, which included Thornton Dial, Lonnie Holley, and Joe Minter. Like Dial, his cousin and artistic mentor, Lockett often responded to current events in his work. The Enemy Amongst Us is one of six pieces Lockett created in memorial of the Oklahoma City bombing (1995). A portion of the work is totally nonrepresentational—a visual approach he considered most appropriate when grappling with the loss of life. Rather than literally representing the event, the exposed grate, ripped sheets of metal, and splattered paint evoke the facade of a blasted building. The title refers to the fact that the perpetrators of this act of domestic terrorism were American (and veterans).
Artwork Details
- Title: The Enemy Amongst Us
- Artist: Ronald Lockett (American, Bessemer, Alabama 1965–1998 Bessemer, Alabama)
- Date: 1995
- Medium: Commercial paint, pine needles, metal, and nails on plywood
- Dimensions: 50 × 53 × 3 in. (127 × 134.6 × 7.6 cm)
- Classification: Sculpture
- Credit Line: Gift of Souls Grown Deep Foundation from the William S. Arnett Collection, 2014
- Object Number: 2014.548.10
- Rights and Reproduction: © 2025 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
- Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art
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