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Thursday, March 9, 2017

Online Exhibition: Politically Inspired Art: Part 2

Thanks to everyone who submitted work for Politically Inspired Art: Part 2. I received three times the number of submissions as I did for Part 1! Topics ranged from homelessness to guns, immigration, women’s rights, the environment, and of course, the increasingly weird goings-on in DC.

I have seen none of this work in person and am selecting it based solely on its digital representation and its relevance to the theme. If I were choosing work for a bricks-and-mortar gallery exhibition, I would follow up with a studio visit. 


The images here are all presented at 600 pixels wide, even though the actual works vary considerably in size. Digital images look different on every device, varying in size, color, contrast, brightness, resolution, etc.

That having been said, here are the works I’ve chosen. The artists are: Nurit Avesar, Mark Bryan, Michael Chomick , Melanie Maria Ciccone, Mike Diehl, Jeanne Dunn, Christina Franco-Long, Martin Gantman, Moira Hahn, Reineke Hollander, Deborah Kennedy, Laura Larson, Kara Maria, Andres Montoya, Thinh Nguyen, Ave Pildas, John Rosewall, Kenny Schneider and Regina Silvers.

I welcome your feedback on the exhibition and on digital exhibitions in general.


Jeanne Dunn

Jeanne Dunn, Women Must Vote!, 2016, photocopy and collage on paper, 16” x 22”

I created this piece as part of a feminist show, Feminism Now, in 2016.

It was before the US Presidential election, and I was anticipating having our first woman President.

I continue to feel that had Hilary Clinton been elected the rights of women and children as well as men would be given the focus they desperately need for our country to thrive.

There is a world need for citizens’ rights-minded women to hold public office and have power to enact laws that protect the safety, well being, and education of women and children and minorities everywhere. 



Michael Chomick

Michael Chomick, Cipher, mixed media, 96" x 65" x 24" 

Cipher addresses the perpetual war that the American Government and the war profiteers have been engaged in, costing many lives to be destroyed all the while making massive profits.


Regina Silvers

Regina Silvers, At The Woman's March: Dag Plaza #2 , 2017, acrylic on paper, 36 x 24”

Dag Plaza 2 is part of my new series, which is based on my experience at the Woman’s March. I attended the March in New York, with friends and my buddies in the Granny Peace Brigade.

Kara Maria

Kara Maria, Enrique (Fear No Art), 2016, acrylic on canvas, 8” x 8”


This is a portrait of my husband, Enrique Chagoya. He was born in Mexico City and moved to the US in 1979, and became a citizen in 2000. He is an artist and a professor at Stanford University. I painted this for a group exhibition called With Liberty and Justice for Some that includes portraits of US immigrants by over 100 artists configured in the form of an American flag, in response to the current US administration's immigration policies.


Moira Hahn

Moira Hahn, Wild Ride, watercolor, 15” x 22”

I was invited to create a work involving a Meiji-period steam locomotive train, in Japan, controlled by a cat engineer, for an exhibition at the Pasadena Museum of History. The exhibition, "The Art of Getting There; Railroad Inspired Artistry." will open soon. My painting will be shown with Japanese woodblock prints (ukiyo-e) from the1880s that depict locomotives in Japan.

In order to draw attention to the cat, photos of Walt Disney riding atop the engine of a model train, years before Disneyland, informed its scale and my composition. The cat began to resemble our president, including its wild, pale forelock.


Nurit Avesar

Nurit Avesar, Migration Thrust, 2017, mixed media, 12" x 12"


Deborah Kennedy

Deborah Kennedy, Changed Climate, 2017, mixed media, detail

This installation invites viewers to contemplate our current ecological crises. The fourteen books in this artwork, now rendered inaccessible, contain images of a thriving natural world now either gone or damaged, and important scientific information concerning our declining environment. Ecological challenges explored in these books include rising rates of species extinctions, ocean acidification, the death of coral reefs, forest mortality, pollution of our air and water, as well as an increasingly unstable climate. Climate change, our most pressing problem, is accelerating many of these environmental challenges, and may soon threaten the stability of our societies as food and water become more expensive and scarce. 

Mark Bryan

Mark Bryan, The Nightmare, oil on canvas, 2017, 30” x 40”

The Nightmare is inspired by editorial cartoonists of the early 1900's such as Thomas Nast and especially Udo Keppler's cartoon about the Standard Oil Monopoly in 1904.


Thinh Nguyen

Thinh Nguyen, Grab Nastay, 2016, digital poster print, 24” x 36”

The Grab Nastay poster and mantra-song is in response to the president’s comment "Grab them by the pussy!" Long Long (Nguyen’s alter-ego) embraces the comment as a form of empowerment. In the Grab Nasty mantra-song Long Long rebels, singing provocatively: “I am a nasty! You know you wanna make my pussy wet. Grab My Pussy!" 


Andres Montoya

Andres Montoya, fuga, 2013, mixed media on paper, 16” x 22”



Ave Pildas


Ave Pildas, We Are Not Ok, photos by Ave Pildas, edited by Waleska Santiago, 2016, digital photography, video

For one hour on July 4th, 2016 I celebrated the birthday of United States of America on Skid Row with homeless in Los Angeles, where over 41,000 people are homeless. 



Laura Larson


Laura Larson, Roll Call, 2016, archival pigment print, 16" x 20"

We all know that animals are going extinct at an alarming rate. Our current political climate is, I fear, going to speed up the process. This image was inspired by the poem by William Stafford called “Roll Call” in which a Black Footed Ferret stands with hands folded encircled by other animals who are nearing or already on the endangered species list as he begins his eulogy “Dearly Beloved.”


Melanie Maria Ciccone


Melanie Maria Ciccone, James Baldwin, 2017, blind contour drawing vellum and marker, 11” x 14”

Inspired by his writings and the current Raoul Peck film: “I Am Not Your Negro.” Incredible civics lesson for all Americans and human beings, besides being great film making. Can't say enough about his writings and this project against the backdrop of now March 2017.



Christina Franco-Long


Christina Franco-Long, Orphan Rock Project : Image 2, 2017, color photograph on archival paper, 18” x 36”

This work was made at The Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Gardens during the midst of the Donald Trump inaugural days. I found solace from all that was keeping me awake at night. I have become so invested in the daily hysteria of what was going on in our government that I began protesting and reading watching listening voraciously to the news. Going to the gardens let me breathe and think. Each visit I brought a different friend with me to talk, take in the earth and of course talk about politics. The "orphan rock" represents feelings of loneliness and isolation.



Martin Gantman


Martin Gantman, 25 Migrant Journeys, 2011, archival digital print, 33” x 46”

Empire was a project about economic globalization, and this piece, 25 Migrant Journeys, is from a segment that shows how people around the world have been affected by changes that have occurred and over which they have little control. In this particular piece, which displays the destabilization that is one of the results of globalization, 25 images taken from the Internet show different ways that people try to escape from an onerous environment toward a hopefully better one; sometimes successfully; sometimes not.



Kenny Schneider


Kenny Schneider, Tomorrow is not another day, 2016, plywood, enamel, pistol replicas, 15" x 25"

John Rosewall


John Rosewall, March, 2016, acrylic on canvas, 42" x 58"


Mike Diehl


Mike Diehl, BORDC Poster, 2003, manipulated photo, 11" x 17"

This is a poster/postcard I designed for the Pasadena Bill of Rights Defense Committee, formed in 2003 in response to the USA Patriot Act -- so it is overtly and specifically political. 



Reineke Hollander


Reineke Hollander, Wedding Album: The Marriage between Fear and Hate, 2017, textiles, vintage photographs, beads, sewing; 13.5" x 32" x ca 11"


In my current body of work ('books' and collages of textiles and vintage photographs), I abstract ad absurdum our tendency to stereotype groups of people both in the smaller context of our daily lives and the larger political one.

By eliminating the individual faces in the photographs and adding colored beads or small pieces of painted canvas, I create smaller or bigger groups of ‘Other People’ that can only be identified by their characteristic of, say, having a blue bead or a canvas triangle for a head.



18 comments:

  1. What absolutely wonderful works! I just love each and every one of them. Thank you Jane! You are still curating the best shows in town <3

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    1. Thanks Eva! It is terrific to have people who support political art work. If you want to see more of Deborah Kennedy's work and her new book, Nature Speaks: Art and Poetry for the Earth, please come visit at: http://www.deborahkennedyart.com/

      The captivating poetry and illustrations in Deborah Kennedy’s new book, Nature Speaks: Art and Poetry for the Earth, bring to life the profound bond between ourselves and the larger natural world. Kennedy focuses on the ecological themes of our time, infusing art and science with insight and passion. Her powerful poetry and earth-toned ink illustrations unveil nature in its beauty and depth, appealing to the eye, the mind and the heart. Nature Speaks invites us to listen to the earth—to appreciate nature’s grace, complexity, and vigor—as we discover pathways for healing ourselves and the earth.

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  2. Beautiful works and curatorial vision showing diversity and depth!

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  3. thanks to everyone who shared their work, that was a terrific range of work

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  4. Be great to see all of the works that you have posted on your blog in an art exhibition somewhere. What a powerful exhibit that would be!!

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  5. Thank you for including my painting Jane! Wonderful show!

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  6. Thank you Jane Chafin for creating this online exhibition and public forum for politically-inspired visual art. It's encouraging and supportive to see engaged thinkers find ways to show others their concerns !

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  7. Love this work, Jane! Great On Line Curating! Lillian Abel

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  8. Thanks Jane... I'm in great Company

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  9. Thanks Jane! I'm honored to have been included.

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  10. Thanks for including my work in your online exhibit and thanks for the supportive comments. If you want to see more of Deborah Kennedy's work and her new book, Nature Speaks: Art and Poetry for the Earth, please come visit at: http://www.deborahkennedyart.com/

    The captivating poetry and illustrations in Deborah Kennedy’s new book, Nature Speaks: Art and Poetry for the Earth, bring to life the profound bond between ourselves and the larger natural world. Kennedy focuses on the ecological themes of our time, infusing art and science with insight and passion. Her powerful poetry and earth-toned ink illustrations unveil nature in its beauty and depth, appealing to the eye, the mind and the heart. Nature Speaks invites us to listen to the earth—to appreciate nature’s grace, complexity, and vigor—as we discover pathways for healing ourselves and the earth.

    ReplyDelete