Category: Politics

Pro-Trump Art, or, How White Nationalism Got its Groove Back

Masterpiece, John McNaughton. 2020, Oil on Canvas

How do conservatives insert themselves into a primarily left-wing art world? How has Trump’s façade of gold plated America First rhetoric been absorbed into what we understand about racism, white-nationalism, and neo-fascism as it lives today? Conservative artists utilize the internet and coded ideologies, or dog-whistles, along with the devaluing of language to subtly insert themselves into the canon… come along for a trip down the rabbit hole of Trump Art.

The American Monument in 2020

What should we do with unwanted American monuments? Our answer will hinge on the social and historical contexts surrounding the monument and on the ideological stances of those involved in the debate – who doesn’t want them, who does, and why?  In the summer of 2020, this question became unavoidable as millions of Americans called for the removal, destruction, recontextualization, or preservation of Confederate and colonial monuments across the United States.1 In […]

Détournement: How Artists Co-opted the Statue of Liberty

During the summer of 2020, Artists borrowed symbolism from history to better convey their message to the public. One of the most commonly used symbols used was the Statue of Liberty on Ellis Island in a form of détourement. While some artists, use the statue as a call of everlasting hope for a better future, other artists call for reconstructionism. Either way, the use of this iconic symbol is an effective way of demanding racial