Art of Engagement

Visual Politics: The Art of Engagement is an art exhibition that’s taking place in the American University’s art museum, Katzen Art Gallery between April 19- July 30. The exhibit came all the way from the West coast, San Jose Museum of Art and its presence in Katzen Art Gallery is the only in the East coast, what an honor we art students of the American University have. The exhibit is divided into four sections, in which all of them deal with the interconnectivity between art and politics. What a strong concept especially with what has been happening in the last few years, with all the media propagandas on a national and international level. I thought the exhibit was very strong and appealing to me particularly because I’ve been involved for about a year now in similar concepts that deal with the view of politics and how to express it through art and media. The exhibit deals with important concepts such as Free speech, Vietnam, black power, gay rights, Chicano liberation, the environmental movement, poverty, immigration, and nuclear war. The artists of the exhibit explored these issues and translated their point of views and their visions through using paintings, sculptures, works on paper, mixed-media pieces, interactive videos, and an outdoor installation made of fabric. They also used a narrative method to express the concepts behind their work in the form of a book that you can get from the gallery. The main artists that I focused on in the exhibit were Tamiko Thiel, Anthony Aziz and Sammy Cucher, and Lynn Hershman. The main issues they dealt with in the exhibit were War and Violence and Racism, Discrimination and Identity Politics.