Critical canvas: behind the year's most political art show
The Trump World Tower in midtown Manhattan is rather quiet these days. It does not typically see as many protests as the Trump International Hotel, where the president holds residence in its gilded penthouse.
That changed over the weekend as an influx of protest art took hold in a neighboring building, 866 United Nations Plaza, housing the Spring/Break Art Show. From portraits of the president to mock paparazzi shots, artwork by more than 400 artists and 100 curators was assembled for an exhibition themed around “fact and fiction”.
“Since the theme is ‘fact and fiction’, we always look for locations that can enhance that theme,” said Andrew Gori, the co-founder of the art fair with Ambre Kelly. “Here, we’re bringing art into a space of international consulates and diplomacy.”
Spring/Break, now in its eighth edition, is unlike any other exhibition at this time of year – it puts statement before sale, it’s somewhat scrappy and it’s known for being more politicised than any other New York art fair. By using empty city spaces for art shows, it puts the art in direct conversation with politics.
“We’re dealing with specific themes like concerns of propaganda, falsifying evidence, not being able to tell the difference between reality and fiction, particularly with the representation of political fact and the media,” said Gori.
In the maze of former offices (this second-floor exhibition used to house work spaces for Finnish and Liberian diplomats), one piece is placed with particular poignancy. In a window facing the Trump World Tower, the artist Oasa DuVerney shows a drawing of Trump alongside Steve Mnuchin and Carryn Owens in an artwork entitled Holy Trinity (Greed, Complicity, White Tears). It’s inspired by the James Baldwin quote: “I have been described by you for hundreds of years and now I can describe you, that’s part of the panic.”
“As a black woman, there are a lot of expectations about what my work should look like and be about, but much of that feels exploitive,” says DuVerney. “I want to understand what it means to describe the other. This piece basically sums up the culture of capitalism – American culture.”
Nearby, a certain idea of national pride is targeted in a series of coins by Valery Jung Estabrook, entitled The ImpeachMint Project. It’s a play on the White House’s decision to release a coin to commemorate the North Korean peace talks. “We’re living in a politically overwhelming time,” said the artist. “I’m most upset about the breaking down of our democracy, in particular the public’s faith in the press, which is our most important check on power.”
Text-based artwork is prevalent throughout the show, including a piece by Margaret Roleke that reads “Weapons of Mass Destruction”. The artist brought the artwork to be shot at a local shooting range in Danbury. Roleke, a mother of four, got involved in gun control after the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012. “I lived near Newtown and knew the grandfather of one of the children killed,” she said. “It’s an epidemic in this country and is killing more people than ever.”
The cult of celebrity that surrounds American politics is targeted in the fake paparazzi photos by Alison Jackson, who has photographed stunningly accurate – and comical – impersonators of Trump, one with him posing with the KKK, another, eating fried chicken with the queen of England and one of her corgis. “My pictures ask where does the truth end and the lies begin, where the subjective triumphs over the objective,” said Jackson.
There are also absurd imaginings of Abraham Lincoln and George Washington in a series called The Lincoln Paintings by David B Frye, a series he started over a decade ago. “These are American historical figures placed in impossible situations, these paintings are deliberately theatrical,” said Frye.
Part history lesson, part fantasy, this series is chillingly bizarre and somewhat hilarious in how the naked former presidents pose alongside phrases, like “In God We Trust”. Trump, however, didn’t make the cut as subject matter. “I’m not really sure what my country wants any more,” said Frye. “This shit Midas leader of ours, being the natural result. God help us.”
Security has always been a topic when it comes to international relations and the security checks at buildings like this, can be intense. A faux play on that taps into something real, however. Upon entering or exiting the building, art enthusiasts are met with a divided reception desk, where they can choose to register themselves with the option of either “Us” or “Them”.
It’s an artwork by Jonathan Paul, who taps into the country’s political divide while retaining a slice of hope. “I created a way to discuss aspirations that unite us, as opposed to focus on the topics that divide us,” he said. “A global shift of ‘unity’ is the path that I believe is in front of us. The real problem is that ‘division’ makes for much better headlines.”