No one should fail to see the importance of a show like “The Art of Democracy” in an era when the public at large watches its inalienable rights slip away. As people become further removed from their duty to protest injustices that are becoming commonplace, propagandart is an essential reminder that the individual voice can still resonate, and that it’s the responsibility of the individual to see that it does. But the importance of “The Art of Democracy” bears with it immense responsibility as well. The art of the people, of dissent, needs to inspire if it hopes to succeed. It needs to wake the passions of people disconnected from their ability to change the world they live in, and often the show fails in that. There are stand-out works which insist that we question the American myth, but they are few. Shawn Stucky reinterprets the horsemen of the apocalypse in an image that says “The United States of America: Liberty… Justice… For All,” accomplishing what bullets, body parts and riot gear do not. Julian Cox gives “G.I. Joe” crucified feet in a piece shouting for us to see the motives and manipulations that lead us to war. Andy Hoogenboom’s “The U.S.A. Eclipses the World” simply states the unfortunate, shocking fact. Throughout the show there are references to 9/11, ground zero, police, terrorists, Bush, Cheney, bombs, blind-folded victims, torture and tanks, but what many pieces lack is rage, and in that lack they parallel the lack of rage of the general populace, the lack of involvement in what we convince ourselves is democracy. The voices are not incendiary, and to speak of our politics of fear, our culture of injustice, one must speak with a voice willful enough to stir the masses, because art alone will not change the world. (Damien James)
Through November 9 at Loyola University Museum of Art, 820 N. Michigan, (312)915-7600
Reflections of Trauma: A Review of "Enter the Mirror" at the Museum of Contemporary Art Each piece in "Enter the Mirror" at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago reflects on a trauma, an injustice, an unfortunate demise, or a total loss of life. The artworks in the show range from the 1970s to the mid-2010s, and include installation, video, sculpture, film, photography, and painting.
A New Vision: A Review of Milwaukee's Sarah Ball Allis Art Museum Curator Kate E. Schaffer has gathered a group of works by femme, women and nonbinary artists that interacts, intervenes and innovates with the museum’s permanent collection to reveal the life of the explorer, traveler, caretaker and collector Sarah Ball Allis.
