While each individual fascinates me, the impetus for both this work and for the revised composition of it [I did another version of it under the same title in 2013 which can be viewed in the "Pop Archaeology" section of this website] is the fundamental relationship between the two images.
(1) Both represent idealizations. Mondrian's idealism echoes a philosophical idealism, where perfection resides beyond incarnated particulars and also disavows any suggestion of human intervention in its making based on the mechanical perfection in its presentation...a perfection which time has called into question with discoloration and cracking. Superman's idealism originates in the aspiration of two Jewish boys in Cleveland, Ohio, looking for a better world in the face of the struggle of being an Other in their own community and an Other in the world community as the reality of Adolf Hitler became apparent in its full horror.
(2) Both are representations of this idealism produced in the early 1940s, though in different places...Mondrian in London and Superman in Cleveland and NYC. Both adopt the same basic language of representation...the primary colors of yellow, blue and red and the device of the black outline delineating the primary colored zones of form.
(3) Both come to me as a viewer by means of mass media. While it might not have been Mondrian's intention, my access to his image via a postcard purchased in a museum store in a museum where the painting does not even reside, is no different than my access to Superman through popular distribution channels. The Idealism arrives to the masses via media. Without the promulgation the Idealism is the provenance of the elite of finance or thought or circumstance.
I have learned a great deal since I composed the first painting. The original work seemed like a perfect opportunity to try the compositional and theoretical advancements in my thinking on this topic. While the final work is more challenging than in the original instance, I feel that the deconstruction of the original image allows for the construction of the original meaning in a more authentic manner.