Contributed by Sharon Butler / Thanks to the ongoing disaster known as the Trump administration, anxiety was in the air at the art fairs this year. Unconstitutional deportation, hate crime, heedless military intervention, political corruption, the impending loss of affordable healthcare for 24 million people, and the failure of GOP will to seriously investigate palpable indications of the Trump team’s treasonous collusion with the Russians to skew the presidential election have created a nearly unprecedented level of tension and despair. Not to mention our concern for the exploding opioid crisis, which has touched everyone I know, and will unquestionably become much worse if Obamacare is repealed. Who has time to make art when there are protests to attend, representatives to call, and letters to write? Preoccupied with Twitter and the daily news, I sometimes wonder how Morandi managed to keep his famously narrow focus during World War II. But getting out to the fairs to look at art made during this historic moment relieved at least a little of my anxiety. Reconnecting with friends and colleagues was good for the spirit. Here is a selection of paintings that caught my eye.
NADA New York, March 2–5, 2017, Skylight Clarkson North, 572 Washington Street, New York, NY.
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Dear Sharon,
Thank you for sharing this note on the anxiety we all fear has polluted our art- making as WELL AS IT IS POLLUTING THE WOLRD. I was particularly struck by the work of David Hendren.
I try to paint gardens. Voltaire had useful and wise advice.
Barbara Kerstetter
http://www.barbarakerstetter.com