welcome spring
by marlene
Wednesday, April 12, 2017
Reaction to Trump Election
The election of Donald Trump as president has prompted a vociferous reaction in the art world.
Art has long been used to agitate the privileged, to amplify the voices of the less powerful.
The commercial art establishment has its own problems with gender and race, but people like Tania Brugera in Cuba, Yael Bartana in Israel, Kara Walker in the US, Al Weiwei in China, and Pedro Reyes in Mexico defiantly use art to prod the status quo and question the way the world works.
Are artists bound by duty to make art political? Perhaps art can be simply beautiful for beauty’s sake. Toni Morrison claims that all art is political. Artists are not compelled to create art which is solely beautiful. All the artists who try hard not to be political are political by saying, ”we love the status quo.”
In the recent past, poets of color, queer artists, writers of immigrant descent, Muslim photographers, and minorities on Broadway have been quick to stand up against hate, power and inequality in this country. This week, artists and writers across the internet are doubling down, voicing both justified fear and empowered resolve in the face of the Trump presidency.
Of course this reaction was not limited to American. German artist Wolfgang Tillman reacted on Instagram with an image of the Statue of Liberty crying Vik Munz, a Brazilian artist who splits his time between his native country and Brooklyn posted a black void on Instagram reflecting the sense of despair and hopelessness felt by many Clinton supporters in the wake of defeat.
Art critic Jerry Saltz shielded his eyes from the results. Disbelief was widespread given that Clinton’s lead in the pre-election polls left most experts giving her at least a 70% chance of victory. Others prompted action; in preparation for a potential increase of hate speech against Muslims, artists Jennifer Dalton shared an illustrated guide to dealing with Islamophobic harassment.
Art journalist were also quick to express their disappointment with the election results. Art news co-executive editor Andrew Russeth took to Twitter with thematically appropriate works by Phillip Guston and Faith Ringold. The sense that our nation was deeply divided was echoed by many in the art world. presidency. The left wing is venting its rage, both at the country and its liberal press.
In light of the outcome of last week’s outcome in the Presidential election, artist Annette Lemieux asked that her 1995 work, “Left Right Left” which consists of 30 picctures of raised fists mounted on pine poles be installed upside down by Whitney Museum, where it is currently featured in the exhibition,” Human Interest: Portraits from the Whitneyey’s Collection
Jeff Javis, a liberal media critic, author and blogger who directs a journalism program at the city university of New York blamed the press tweeting:
“I fear that journalism is irredeemably broken,
A failure. My profession failed to inform the public
About the fascist they were electing.
Javis also wrote: I’ll say it: “This is a victory of the uneducated and uninformed. (He blamed
others as well, including his race for inherent racism.) His gender for sexism and himself.
Vik Munz, a Brazilian artist who splits his time between his native country and Brooklyn posted a black void on Instagram reflecting the sense of despair and hopelessness felt by many Clinton supporters in the wake of the defeat. Art critic Jerry Saltz shielded his eyes from the results.
Disbelief was widespread, given that Clinton’s lead in the pre-election polls left most experts giving her at least a 70% chance of victory. Others prompted action; In preparation for potential increase of hate speech against Muslims, artist Jennifer Dalton shared an illustrated guide to dealing with Islamophobic harassment.
It was Socrates who said that ”Man is by nature, “a political animal.” It might be naïve to assume that it is possible to exclude politics from art.
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