“If I can’t dance I don’t want to be in your revolution“ is a quote long attributed to anarcho-communist activist, Emma Goldman. Taken up by some on the modern US left as a catchphrase against artless bureaucratic organizing, the slogan has also been the organized American left’s feint at indicating concern for cultural matters. In point of fact, the saying…
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) has announced it will sell 42 paintings, including masterworks by Henri Matisse, Edgar Degas, and Camille Pissarro, in order to raise the capital necessary to make acquisitions of “modern works.” But for LACMA to abruptly get rid of 42 “redundant and unrepresentative” artworks in order to purchase new art begs the question;…
I’m a participating artist in Dia de los Muertos: The Journey Home, the nineteenth annual Day of the Dead exhibition at Chicago’s National Museum of Mexican Art. I’m honored that the institution chose to exhibit my oil painting Dia de los Muertos in its group show of forty artists from across the U.S. and Mexico. This is the nation’s biggest…
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 International Center of Photography in New York is hosting an exhibition of wartime photographs titled: El Salvador: Work of Thirty Photographers. This important exhibit details the bloody US backed counterinsurgency war that ravaged the Central American nation, with the photos documenting the period from 1979 to 1983. Organized more than twenty years ago by photographers Susan Meiselas and Henry Mattison,…
In London a coalition of over 100 artists, writers, musicians, academics, and members of parliament signed a letter expressing their opposition to the war in Iraq. On September 15th, musician Brian Eno and film star Julie Christie hand delivered to the official residence of Tony Blair, the letter calling for the withdrawal of British troops. At a press conference held…
The Tate Britain website allowed users to “create” and name their own art collections from among the online art works the museum has on display. Users are invited to compile their own personalized collections, which are then displayed on the Tate website. Some clever Stuckist saboteur made proper use of this invite by uploading a sarcastic critique at the Tate’s…
With all the madness swirling around driving everybody insane, you’d think more artists would have something to say about our present situation. While I wait for them to catch up, I’ll be creating my own riotous responses on canvas. In the meantime, here’s a quote to whet your appetites: “The heaviest burden of all is the pressure of the war…
