Back in 2014, as I flipped through the October issue of Juxtapoz—the one with Cleon Peterson’s Into The Night—I came across an ad for Hashimoto Contemporary’s exhibition, The Pinks 2. Featured in the ad was a painting of Kim Jong Il by Scott Scheidly. The irony of the discovery wasn’t evident at the time; it would resurface years later.
November’s issue of Artborne deals with the role of politics in contemporary art, on both a localized and a national level. Scott Scheidly’s Pink Series unroots questions of gender roles and color theory; Dana Hargrove continues the question of consumerism and the concepts of “place” and “setting.” Brill Adium discusses his mask series, and the importance of localization and dream-building.
The single most recurring question I’ve received after we released the cover image for this month is, “Where’s the painting of Hillary?” The implication, of course, is that we’re just another liberal media outlet, hell bent on screwing the Republican nominee out of his god-granted Manifest Destiny.
Hillary Clinton is a career politician, true, and the American research firm, Gallup, has shown politicians to be rated low on honesty and ethical standards, coming second only to lobbyists. But comparing her to Donald Trump is a sin I won’t commit. Nor will I vilify Trump’s constituency and play into the same cycle of hate and segregation that has characterized our country for centuries.
After the death of Supreme Court Justice Scalia, I realized everyone is good for someone. Politics serve interests, and the wealthy few are always served first. It’s the role of art to question and challenge this, and pave the way for change.
