About the Exhibition
“Artists are the visual, verbal and audio guardians of our collective consciousness. Few can remember the politics or history of 18th century Europe, but the music of Mozart and the paintings of Watteau continue to be a source of inspiration. We might not always like the message, but it is artists that distill the essence of an era.”
— Robert Flynn Johnson
Gottfried Helnwein Catalogue for Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
In our increasingly global community it is not a surprise that the art of our time is engaged with nuances of political discourse. Much of politics is concerned with the relationship of social and collective behavior, which often becomes inspiration for contemporary art.
Not bound to partisan perspectives or conventional aesthetics, the artists in this exhibition exemplify the freedom and independence artists share that allow them to provoke thought by any means necessary. Confronted with the thousands of toy soldiers that make up Dave Cole’sMemorial Flag, one can’t help but question the meaning of the flag and its symbolism in America today. Or when the viewer steps through the menacing gates of Homeland Security by Jota Castro, he or she becomes a participant and is challenged to question the freedoms we sometimes take for granted. Tin-Kin Hung takes a less subjective point of view of American politics when he casts the familiar faces of politicians in his satirical animation. Ironically by reducing the seriousness of global warming or the 2008 Presidential Election to cartoon animation, Hung is able to bring to the forefront the absurdities often overlooked in mainstream politics.
No subject is off limits for this international and local group of artists. Artists like Wang Guangyi, Jose Toirac, Claire Fontaine and Olivier Blanckart allow us to question the power of images and language and how they define our lives.
