Monday, September 12, 2005

art in times of this war


"(un)Patriot(ic) Act," the artist Lisa Charde's straitjacketed flag, is part of a new exhibition by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council

The street mindset for art, what has been shown in alternative spaces for years, has made it into a gallery showing that was just reviewed in the ny times:

...the show is a thoughtful, legitimate exploration of one way in which American artists' lives have changed because of 9/11; it raises questions about artistic freedom that ought to be asked near ground zero. And the anger directed against the show reveals some chilling cultural trends: the devaluing of art as a proper response to 9/11, and the persistent, wrongheaded idea that to question the government is to dishonor the memory of those who died.

Carlos Andrade & Todd Ayoung's "Beheaded/Between," left, and an untitled work by John Leanos.





ABOVE: Kouross Esmaeli's "Greetings Without Flowers" features lifesize portraits of citizens of Baghdad.

BELOW: A simulated explosive device in a suitcase by the artist Hackett.

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