The Art Museum of the Americas (AMA) of the Organization of American States (OAS), located just steps from the National Mall, presents Passport to Patriotism: 250 Years of Diplomacy, an exhibition that invites visitors to explore the shared history of the Americas through artistic expression, featuring works by American artist Brendan Murphy.
At the heart of the exhibition is Serve the Flag, a seven-meter-tall sculpture installed in the Museum's gardens along Constitution Avenue. The work features the BOONJI Spaceman, Murphy's signature figure: an astronaut gazing toward the sky, its surface covered with symbols and equations. Inside the Museum, visitors can also view the painting Freedom 250, created to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the independence of the United States.
"Art has the power to bring people together and spark conversations that transcend borders," said OAS Assistant Secretary General Laura Gil. "Having this work in the Organization's gardens, in a public space with free admission, reaffirms the Art Museum of the Americas' mission as a place of encounter for the Hemisphere."
Brendan Murphy, born in Bloomington, Indiana, in 1971, is an internationally recognized contemporary artist whose public works can be found in New York, London, Oslo, Houston, and Mallorca. In 2025, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., presented his sculpture A Step Forward, also from the BOONJI series. For Murphy, art conveys an energy that reveals its fullest meaning only when experienced collectively. That idea runs throughout the BOONJI Spaceman series: chrome-clad figures that reflect the image of everyone who stands before them.
Founded in 1976, the Art Museum of the Americas is the OAS museum and one of the first institutions in the United States dedicated to modern and contemporary art from Latin America and the Caribbean.
Passport to Patriotism: 250 Years of Diplomacy will be on view through October 18, 2026, with free admission for all visitors.
Reference: FNE-144982
