updated 1/162017 2:54pm
Do you feel you are living in some bizarre parallel universe? Is your head spinning, your anxiety spiking? Are you starting to worry you’re on a watchlist because you’ve signed so many petitions? Are you breathlessly hoping that Penthouse gets the sex tape, that certain people have massive heart attacks, or that you’ll wake up and realize it’s all been a bad dream? Is everything in your life, including art, taking a back seat to politics?
Do you feel you are living in some bizarre parallel universe? Is your head spinning, your anxiety spiking? Are you starting to worry you’re on a watchlist because you’ve signed so many petitions? Are you breathlessly hoping that Penthouse gets the sex tape, that certain people have massive heart attacks, or that you’ll wake up and realize it’s all been a bad dream? Is everything in your life, including art, taking a back seat to politics?
You’re not alone!
In an attempt to aggregate and categorize some of the overwhelming
noise, I’m going to focus in on items from the week’s political news that tie directly
into the arts.
Right on cue Saturday morning, Trump took the bait and attacked
civil rights leader John Lewis in a series of tweets after Lewis said he didn’t
think Trump’s presidency was legitimate. (The completely tone-deaf-on-race Trump
then cancelled his MLK Day visit to the national African American Museum!) As a
result, the Washington Post is reporting that Lewis’s books are selling like
hotcakes.
Earlier this year, Lewis won the National Book Award for
Volume Three of his powerful graphic novel, March. Click here to read my post: MARCH:
National Book Award Winner Reminds Us that Eternal Vigilance is the Price of
Freedom. The boxed set is temporarily out-of-stock on Amazon, but many new
and used ones are available from third-party sellers.
We also get the scoop on why the Trumps didn’t buy Andy Warhol’s eight
silkscreens of Trump Tower (talk about a bad business decision!) -- the work
wasn’t color-coordinated with their “Versailles in the sky.”
Christo. Running Fences (Project for the West Coast of
USA). Collage, 1972 |
Click here to sign the petition
Suzanne Valadon, “Nude Doing Her
Hair,” ca. 1916. |
Click here for more
Update: Thanks to reader Susan Englert for alerting me to this Kickstarter Campaign: We the People: public art for the inauguration and beyond. Artists Shepard Fairey, Ernesto Yerena, and Jessica Sabogal, have collaborated with photographers to create a series of images that capture the shared humanity of our diverse America. They need your help to get the posters printed and distributed on a massive scale in time for the Inauguration.
Click here for more
As as self-avowed nerd who has spent much of her life with her nose in a book, I was overjoyed to see this article in today’s New York Times: Obama’s Secret to Surviving the White House Years: Books. We are SO going to miss Obama!
I’d like to wrap things up with a little humor – something
we’re going to need a lot of in the days and weeks to come:
Excellent ideas -- Grazie, Jane, for sharing.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of the Washington Post...
I've been following this brilliant project at the intersection of art + activism. The Kickstarter numbers advance while you watch!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/amplifierfoundation/we-the-people-public-art-for-the-inauguration-and
Thanks for letting me know about this. I'll edit and post it.
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