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My Country Right or Wrong
African American artist, Cliff Joseph, was the co-founder of the 1960’s Black Emergency Cultural Coalition in New York, an artist’s group involved in creating socially conscious artworks. Joseph’s oil on canvas painting, titled My Country Right or Wrong was created in 1968 at the height of America’s war on Vietnam. The artwork derided the blind patriotism that made the war…
Mentioned by Academia
When academics start writing about a living artist, you might say that artist has achieved a certain amount of success – or infamy as the case may be. I’ve only just been informed that my work has recently been mentioned in two books I’ve not heard of until now. I received a brief but satisfying mention in American Studies in…
Babylon must Fall
The Battle for Babylon is an article written by art critic Jerry Saltz. While his article focuses on the art scene in New York, his critique is applicable almost universally. He takes the position that “more artists, gallerists, and curators are taking matters into their own hands” in an effort to circumvent the current arrangement that “reduces art to its…
The Architecture of Submission
Cultural democracy is part of the structure of any truly democratic society, and like political democracy, it derives its strength solely from the people. The creation, propagation, and accessibility of the arts not only helps to promote democratic values – it is vital to them. However, participatory and community based cultural democracy is never a given, it is something we…
Drawing the Line: My Early Sketches
In 2005 I rediscovered a number of my old sketchbooks that had been packed away for decades. These sketchbooks contain hundreds of pencil and pen drawings created by me during my high school years. Most of the artworks were created in 1970 when I was only sixteen years old. The drawings were largely of my classmates and friends, and some…
Right here – Get set – Point – Fire!
May 4th, 2007 marks the 37th anniversary of the shooting deaths of four students by the Ohio National Guard at Kent State University. It seems few remember those who were felled by bullets during national anti-Vietnam war protests triggered by President Nixon’s invasion of Cambodia. The killings represent a monstrous crime… and we must never forget the students gunned down…