While a designer-in-residence at the American Academy in Rome in 2019, Stefan Sagmeister encountered a lawyer who said that the recent global rise of authoritarianism signals the end of liberal democracy. Provoked by this claim, Sagmeister began to research the subject and found that 200 years ago there was only one democracy, the United States, while in 2021 there are 96 democratic countries. Interpreting this as a positive sign, he became interested in other statistics that suggest the world is a better place now, contrasting the picture of doom that the mainstream media and internet tend to paint. Sagmeister’s "Beautiful Number" series of works reflect the data that he collected. Indicating changes that have unfolded over a 100-year period or longer, the findings are represented as bold shapes on canvases, such as his 2022 painting Josefine, which illustrates the percentage of women working in the US over the past 100 years, from 23% in 1910 to 59% in 2010. In the mixed-media painting, the artist has embedded geometric forms into 19th-century painting from his great-grandparents’ antique shop, relics that were stored in the attic of his family home in Bregenz, Austria, where he eventually found them. Image: Stefan Sagmeister, Josefine, 2022. 19th Century oil on canvas mounted on masonite with inlays, 31.5 x 25.6 in / 80 x 65 cm. On view in the exhibition "Seeing Red, Looking Blue, Feeling Green," curated by Paul Laster at Marquee Projects in Bellport, Long Island, NY, through Sept 18, Fri-Sun, 11am-5pm @marqueeprojects @stefansagmeister #art #contemporaryart #painting #collage #figurativeart #conceptualart #stefansagmeister #marqueeprojects #bellport #longisland #ny