Should art be about politics?
Looking at Art:
It is a pleasure to see beautiful art, exquisitely rendered. Should art serve a greater purpose than bringing pleasure to the viewer? Many of the most remarkable masterpieces produced by artists are in response to cataclysmic events. One of these is Picasso’s Guernica. The huge painting, which may be his most famous work, was a response to the Nazi bombing of a Spanish town called Guernica.
Work in the Studio:
Before the corona virus and the recent demonstrations by Black Lives Matter, I spent several years painting portraits of beautiful children. Our tumultuous times, that have been keeping me and many others at home to hear bad news every day, have taken hold of my work in the studio. Haunting thoughts inspire recent paintings. However, it is not the first time I have made work influenced by the political climate. Here is a recent painting and an early sculpture.
The Decision Makers, ceramic wall sculpture, 19” x 13” x 4” is about big government. The architectural frame suggests a government building. The three heads looking down are the judges and the two faces in conversation are politicians. The fragmented, distorted faces represent the public. Black and White, watercolor, 14” x 11”, is a metaphor. You can see a cliff with climbers and when you recognize the cliff as a black person’s face, you may realize that the painting is about black history and our present-day inequality.
