Landscape with Dollar Sign seems like a simple enough concept, a highly legible image where the titular symbol is formed in the clouds above a barren landscape, but it is worth contemplating as a response to a particular moment in history: Reaganomics were bust and the market crash of 1987 (Black Monday) still had lingering effects, but the USSR had fallen, leading to a new global economic epoch for the 90s. Only barely visible, two small silhouetted figures towards the center of the composition look up towards the enormity of the form, magnificent but overwhelming. Here, political landscape and visual landscape intersect with unflinching clarity, the dollar sign dominating a flat expanse devoid of all else.

This piece is a part of the Estate of Roger Brown, held by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Sale of this work goes to benefit the ongoing operation of the Roger Brown Study Center, serving the Chicago community with educational resources and a world-class collection of self-taught art from Brown's personal collection. Preference for collection of Roger Brown's work will be given to public collections and institutions who share in the mission to benefit their communities.