Visual Politics: The Art of Engagement
The Katzen Art Center at American University Museum
April 19 - July 30, 2006
Visual Politics: The Art of Engagement was an exhibition at American University Museum worth seeing. And certainly not simply because I was in it. Based on the book of the same name by art historian Peter Selz, and curated by Jack Rasmussen, the caliber of political artists in this show is remarkable, and to say that I am honored to have graced the same walls is a gross understatement.
Two of my works were on display and thanks to the collectors of those pieces who loaned them to the American University Museum. Mikki and Stanley Weithorn loaned Condoleezza Antoinette and Tim Campbell loaned Like Apple Fucking Pie. Both the Weithorns and Tim have formidable collections in their own right and I am grateful to them for making these pieces available, as well as, of course, Toomey Tourell Gallery in San Francisco and Axis Gallery in New York.
On tour from the San Jose Museum of Art (SJMA) in California, this exhibition examines the interconnected history of art and politics since the Cold War with a focus on art from the West Coast, where protest politics and countercultural activities have been particularly pronounced. Free speech, Vietnam, black power, gay rights, Chicano liberation, the environmental movement, poverty, immigration, and nuclear war are among the issues explored and reflected in paintings, sculptures, works on paper, mixed-media pieces, interactive videos, and an outdoor installation of knotted fabric on the museum's facade by Helene Aylon. The exhibition comes with a 300-page book by Berkeley art historian Peter Selz, who lectures on the exhibition May 25. It is organized by Susan Landauer, SJMA's chief curator. Drawn almost entirely from the socially-based contemporary art collection of SJMA, the exhibition premiered in San Jose in November 2005 and appears at the AU Museum for its only East Coast showing.
Part 1: Against War and Violence -- Ariel, Robert Arneson, Helene Aylon, David Best, Enrique Chagoya, Binh Danh, Conner Everts, Al Farrow, Rupert Garcia, Wally Hedrick, Frank Lobdell, Erle Loran, Long Nguyen, Irving Norman, Manuel Ocampo, Dinh Q. Le, the team of Tamiko Thiel and Zara Houshmand.
Part 2: On Racism, Discrimination and Identity Politics -- the team of Anthony Aziz and Sammy Cucher, Judith Baca, Hung Liu, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Lari Pittman, Tino Rodriguez, Travis Somerville, M. Louise Stanley, Salvador Roberto Torres.
Part 3: Toward a Sustainable Earth -- Chester Arnold, John Buck, Edward Burtynsky, Rene de Guzman, Helen and Newton Harrison, Masami Teraoka.
Part 4: Contemporary Politics -- Sandow Birk, Hans Burkhardt, Robbie Conal, Clinton Fein, Llyn Foulkes, Bruce Hasson, Evri Kwong, William Wiley.
