246
UNITED NATIONS STAMP
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Sam Yeates
Crawling Toward the Millennium 1998
acrylic on canvas 74.7 x 100.8 cm

Sam Yeates was born in the USA in 1951 and studied fine art at North Texas State University. He works as a painter and illustrator in Austin, Texas. He comments: ‘The symbols of the sea and the turtle express the beginning or dawn of life. The turtle comes early in this progression, but also symbolises the uncertainty of the future of the environment and nature’s place in the upcoming century. The angel symbolises the spiritual guide and for me, man, the traveller in time. I have tried to present him not as one race but as a composite. I wanted him to represent not the vision of one group, but of many. The angel is in repose, almost sleeping, while slowly being drawn into the future none of us can predict. The sky can be viewed as dawn for a new beginning or dusk for the close of this century depending on the viewer’s interpretation’.