American flag close up is Longo's meditation on the iconography with which political power is achieved. The flag as one of the iconic symbols both of American power and of the American way of life becomes an omnipresent force, leaving literally no space for anything else. This work becomes both a glorification and a criticism of Americanism and all its facettes. “Old Glory, Left Side” is a typical example of Longo’s fascination with the ambivalent nature of power and its influence on the individual subject, reaching from attraction to repulsion, from reinforcement to exploitation, from protection to violence.