Mid-Morning Art Thread

Portrait And Background
O. Louis Guglielmi

Social criticism via art is possible, and sometimes successful without destroying the quality of the work.

But this ain't it.

I actually like the piece, and were I a wealthy man I might consider purchasing it and then having the ridiculous portrait of Lenin removed from the painting.

The fact is, artists claim to have some heightened ability to express themselves on the canvas; and some of them are indisputably correct. But the political opinions of the artist are no more refined than those of the guy sitting next to you at a bar, having a shot and a beer after work. In fact, I would argue that Mr. Boilermaker on the bar stool has a better perspective on the working man than the effete artists who suckled on the government teat during the Great Depression, while many Americans struggled.

It's sad, because some of his other work is quite good, but in this case I guess he didn't trust his artistic skills enough to allow the work to speak for itself.

posted by CBD at 09:30 AM

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