Red Gray & Blue by Dan R Talley

Elliott Barowitz Tuli Kupferberg Mary Malott Howardena Pindell Larry Rosing Tim Yohn

RED

GRAY &

BLUE * * * * * *

November 10 through December 10, 1994

Organized by The FORUM Gallery at Jamestown Community College

The Politics of Political Art

Dan R. Talley Red , Gray and BLue is a loosely organized group of artists 50 years of age and over who mostly live and work in the New York City area . Working in a variety of mediums, the participating artists come from diverse aes thetic and philosophical traditions; the vo cabularies of abstract expressionism , minimalism, conceptualism, process art, appropriationism, and mass communica tion are readily apparent in the pieces, sometimes as a straightforward method of expression, sometimes as ironic asides. This seemingly disunited stylistic body ofwork is drawn together by its overarching concern with recentsocio-political issues. The pieces in the show address the serious and compli cated issues of our time with humor wit, and a gentle cynicism that Simultaneously confronts and challenges the viewers' per ception of these situations and of the world conditions that spawned them. Red, Gray, and Blue's aptly chosen name brings to mind a discolored U.S. flag; if analyzed further , the name suggests an ger, sadness, and age. These associations are not accidental. Participating artists Elliott Barowitz, Tuli Kupferberg, Mary Malott, Howardena Pindell, Larry Rosing and Tim Yohn have extensive exhibition histOries, life-long commitments to the arts, and distinguished profiles of political in volvement both inside and outside the artworld. The artists share a belief that art can be an effective means for analyzing and addressing the politics of ou r time and a way of expressing the displeasure and pain that current political realities sometimes inspire.

Often the politics of art and the politics of state reflect and mirror each other; the insular artworld struggles to address the issues of the society-at-large while, sadly, sometimes perpetuating many of the exact same social iUs. In the catalog essay which follows (pseudonymously written by one of the group's members), the political battles inside and outside the artworld are chronicled in an overview that paints an extremely fascinating portrait of a volatile and exciting era of recent American history The essay situates the show's partiCipants in the context of the love-hate relationship that often epitomizes the artists' feelings about the system that Simultaneously sup ports and suppresses their very existence. The notion of an art that critiques the power of state and comments on the atti tudes of its citizenry is not new. It began in ancient times with pieces like the Assyrian relief sculptures that demonstrate the mili tary powers of the king, and it continues into the twentieth century with works like Picasso's Guemica, the anti-war master piece that decried the horrors of the Span ish Civil War Red, Gray, and Blue partici pates in this grand tradition with provoca tive meditations and observations on the current state of our society Whether you agree with their politics or not, the show is sure to confront, engage, and inspire.

Red, Gray, and Blue Historical Notes by Wendy McDonald Berger The lives and careers oj the participating artists embrace.five crucial decades oj the so-called American century-an era ojpeak, decline, and apparent resurgence oj the po Litical, economic, and miLitary hegemony oj the rulers oj the United States. The partici pants are grizzled veterans oj a succession oJU.S. wars-literal andfigurative, civil and imperial, material and esthetic-and use various media and diverse strategies to mock the spectacle oj their country, stumbling, bumbling, wandering like Lear in the desert with little more than its pretensions intact.

Thus hyperbolized the opening of the prospectus for a group exhibit titled Red. Gray, and Blue-Images oJDissent in Works by U.S. Artists over 50, circulated in early

1991 to alternative spaces in New York City by Elliott Barowitz, Mary Malott, Larry Rosing, and Tim Yohn. Coming on the heels of an uproar over censorship issues raised by Congressional attacks on exhibitions of so-called porno graphic and blasphemous art works, which had been funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, the long build-up for the GulfWar electrtfied dormant antiwar sentiment in the New York City art world and beyond. Hundreds of artists mobilized to demonstrate against "George Bush's war," to counter mass media compliance in it, and to make antiwar art for a huge open protest exhibition in several gallery venues. Carned out with a minimum of U.S. casualties, the brtef war was a trtumph of technology and advanced weaponry-an

entertainment extravaganza which con founded its opponents as public opinion turned decisively in its favor and yellow ribbons sprouted on mailboxes and tree trunks from coast to coast. By the time a show of eleven artists-including Barowitz, Malott, Rosing, and Yohn-under the rubrtc of Red, Gray, and Blue opened on June 4, 1991, in the small basement B4A Gallery in Soho, the war was over and Kuwait was "saved"; Saddam Hussein was "back in his box;" and Bush and his chief generals, Colin Powell and Norman Schwartzkopf, were na tional heroes. The opposition to the GulfWar may well have been the last hurrah for a leftist politi cal consensus which reached back to the late 1960s and the Vietnam War but which has been shattered by the demise. of the Soviet Union. Many, if not a majortty, of political progressives hailed the U.S. inva sion of Somalia for its "humanitarian" aims, and radical left elements called for outright U.S. military intervention against the Serbs in Bosnia. In September 1994, President Bill Clinton managed to insert 20,000 U. S. troops into Haiti to provide for a transition to a "democratic" regime. Accomplished with out U. S. casualties (as of this wrtting), the move provoked no significant opposition be yond carping by mostly Republican crttics of Clinton. The dissolution of the old antiwar consensus on the left has come about, inter estingly enough, even as political content in art flourtshed at the highest level since the Depression era-coalescing around issues of oppression and identity of individual art

ists as women, gays, people of color, etc., and giving rise to the excoriation of political correctness. I The work of the artists of Red, Gray, and Blue-Barowitz, Malott, Rosing, and Yohn, joined in the present exhibition by Tuli Kupferberg and Howardena Pindell- is the product of a different, perhaps neglected, impetus, reflecting the ages of the artists involved and the timing of their entrance into the art scene. To varying degrees, their art has been meant to send a clear message, rather than to provide a decoding or "deconstruction" of a "representation" of reality to expose the social condition lurking behind it; the work of Red, Gray, and mue embodied protest and critique before these became a mainstay of the academy Their work places a premium on its accessibility to a non-art audience unschooled in the arcana of "critical theory " Another important link among these artists is a historical one, their relationship to a unique publication-known first as Art Workers Newsletter, and finally as Art&Artists--which thrived from 1971 till its sudden demise in late 1989. The publi cation had its genesis nearly a quarter of a century ago in the tumult of the late 1960s and early 1970s when, for the first time in the post World War II era, a small but rapidly growing ar1.world was "energized by patterns of disenchantment and hope for systemic reform similar to the motives of the concurrent peace and student political move ments" as well as the nascent women's movement.' Around 1970, the major focus of artists' politics in New York was the Art Workers Coalition (AWC) , numbering among its mem bers well-known artists and critics like Carl

Andre, Rudolph Barantk. Lucy Lippard, May Stevens, Leon Golub, and Hans Haacke. AWC was able to generate significant pub licity in a series of"skirmishes" with institu tions Uke the Whitney Museum ofAmerican Art, whose Annuals of new and noteworthy art rarely included work by women, and the Museum Modem Art (MoMA), whose junior staff members, many of them artists, were organized into a union, the Professional and Administrative Staff Association (PASTA). AWC members claimed they wanted to destroy the institutional.ized art market nexus of critics, galleries and museums. They wanted to terminate those museum retrospectives which manipulated art his torical evaluations to the financial benefit of trustees and collectors while predominantly presenting the work of white male artists. They declared themselves in favor of replac ing the hierarchical, pyramidal organiza tion of art markets and institutions with a "participatory democracy" composed of art ists, institutional representatives, and com munity representatives or participants.3 Nevertheless, by 1971 , AWe was beset by conflicting aims of the factions that com prised it, reflecting the "status and class stratification" within the New York art world. While the bulk of AWC activists were seri ous abou t its aims, "media coverage focused on art world 'superstars' participating in AWC events and attributed leadership to these. This triggered resentment and com petition for notoriety and media accessibility... while draining energy and concern ... further demoralization in AWC ranks was caused by manipulative media incursion and resentment against self-pro motional competitive superstarism."4

... the work of Red, Gray, and Blue embodied protest and critique before these became a mainstay of the academy....

At the annual convention of the College Art Association, the venerable professional

organization of college art and art history teachers, held in Chicago in January 1971 , three New York AWC activists identified themselves as the National Art Workers Community (NAWC) and distributed a broad side titled Art Workers Newsletter The cen terpiece was a ten-point program, going significantly beyond the mostly ideological demands previously formulated by AWC . These included a health insurance program for artists, an employment agency, open housing at reasonable prices, government incomes for artists in need, protection against racial, sexual, and religiOUS bias, a negative income tax plan for artists, artists' materials at reduced prices, lobbying for artists in Washington and state capitals, and a legal program to assure protection of artists' rights, including the offering by museums to lend money to living artists by putting up their collections as collateral. Also at the 1971 Chicago convention was Larry Rosing, head of the Minneapolis chapter of the New Art Association, a dissi dent group founded to shift the emphasis in college teaching from the artist's relation ship to the art of the past to the artist's role as a human being in contemporary society Rosing was a college art teacher, art histo rian , painter and maker of short non-narra tive films. He promptly joined forces with NAWC by setting up a Minneapolis office of NAWC and several years later would gravi tate to New York and become a key figure in the organization. Regarded with suspicion by more adventuristic elements of the old Art Work ers Coalition and called "reformist" by "revo lutionary" trade union radicals, NAWC was

born of the view that a trade-union ap proach to the problems of artists was futile in a field where there were no mass employ ers. Rather, NAWC formulated its mission in light of the realization that "needed changes...could only occur in increments after the relevant publics had been thor oughly educated in an ever-widening dia logue. Angry rhetoric and militant demon strations were no longer to be relied upon ."5 The idea was to help artists overcome their natural tendency to be pitted against one another (as the AWC experience itself dem onstrated) and to see themselves as profes sionals on a par with others-"to work to ward the creation of a society in which an artist can make his [sic) living honorably as an artist and be respected for the work he does as an artist."6 The principal instrument would be Art Workers Newsletter (AWN), which went to four issues in 1971, in a no-frills, often sloppy form, with unSigned pieces focusing on the practical concerns of artists in commonsense language, with an occasion ally sarcastic edge, which has been de scribed as that of the non-ideological left. "How can artists be complaining?" asked an early cartoon, "aren't they supposed to be unhappy?" By May 1971, AWN announced cre ation of a complaint bureau with a 24-hour answering service, availability of an Artist's Fact Kit (containing a list of U.S. Congress men and how they had voted on arts legis lation and other materials designed for use "in confrontation with friend and foe alike," the idea being to "show other artists what the score is"), and plans for a self-adminis tering health-insurance sche me. The insur ance plan was described as "a tangible and

immediate attack in the NAWC offensive to lay dead the long-held misconception that artists are third-rate citizens... the first of many programs which will enable artists to help other artists while helping themselves, thus moving positively toward an end to the feuding and cu tthroat tactics among them." In the fall of 1971. the Art Workers Coalition mounted a quiXotic demonstra tion at the Museum of Modem Art in re sponse to the repression of the Attica prison rebellion by New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller demanding RockefeUer's resig nation as governor and as a trustee of MoMA. The futility of this quickly led to the dissolution of AWC, while. left on its own, NAWC and its "reformist"' program pros pered. At the end of 1971. a membership organization, the Foundation for the Com munity ofArtists (FCA), was incorporated to forward tax-deductible contributions to NAWC activities like the newspaper-its name changed to Artworkers News-and by early 1972, FCA was receiving grants total ing $17,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, and elsewhere. After the newspa per, the most significant activity was the establishment of an art hazards study cen ter and an expertly written column on the subject began appealing regularly in AWN. By 1974, readership was estimated at 15,000 for the eight-page newsprint tabloid ap pealing ten times a year While occasional articles with ideologi cal overtones appeared, e .g., "Should Art ists Boycott the Bicentennial?"' (January 1974), and strike actions against MoMA were sympathetically covered, the real em phasis was on bread and butter issues-the ups and downs ofpublic funding of the arts,

housing in New York City and elsewhere, proflies of new and prominent arts adminis trators and officials, trends in art educa tion, plus regular departments devoted to art hazards , artists and the law, and "rip offs of the month ." The result was the only publication intended for artists as opposed to the art market. In line with the aim of building a community of artists, there was a strict policy of not engaging in the "'hierar chical and competitive business" of review ing the work of individual artists. This of course foreclosed the possibility of gallery ads, the traditional mainstay of art maga zines. In 1973, Larry Rosing moved to the city to take a job as dean of New York's Studio School and became active in FCA, and Elliott Barowitz, a prinCipal activist in the success ful campaign for passage in New York of a law permitting certifiable artists to remain in occupancy of previously illegal spaces, joined the orga.n.ization; two years later, he was named to FCA's board of directors. Barowitz, a New Jersey native , had lived in New York since 1965. His big, energetic paintings, widely exhibited in New York and elsewhere, were evolving qUickly from ab stract landscapes into map-like images with shadows ofwarplanes, an enduring feature, making their first appearance in the mid 1970s. He commuted to Philadelphia to teach art and design at Drexel University, and shared with Rosing concerns about the teaching of art and how it should prepare prospective artists for dealing with the real world, topics among others they covered in articles for AWN. While continuing to make films, Rosing made his first pieces of "mail art"-starting with a giant postcard memorializing Or

lando Letelier, the Chilean exile who was assassinated by agents of his country's secret police in Washington D.C. In 1978, Rosing toured China with a group of arts activists, shooting a film ofhis travel, which was exhibited at MoMA several years later In February 1979, at which time Rosing was managing editor of AWN and Barowitz was president of FCA and a member of the newspaper's editorial board, the New York art world was roiled by the scandal of an exhibit at Artists Space, a highly respected non-profit "alternative-space" gallery in Soho. The show was of a number of abstract landscapes by a young white artist named Donald Newman and was titled Nigger Draw ings. Newman and Artists Space defended their use of the title with the claim that it expressed the status of artists in general as an oppressed minority. Opposition to the exhibit was wide-ranging, uniting in an ad hoc Emergency Coalition Against Racism in the Arts, led by Howardena Pindell. Adistin guished Philadelphia-born artist, Pindell was noted for her process-oriented mixed media constructions. Since 1967 she had been an employee of MoMA and was active in the 1971 two-week PASTA/MoMA strike protesting Nelson Rockefeller's role in the Attica prison Crisis. Also in 1971, Pindell co founded A.1.R., the Soho co-op gallery of women artists which endures to this day In AWN's May 1979 issue (now 24 pages long, and printed in two colors), a brief article on the Nigger Drawings affair quoted Pindell's rebuttal of the rationale offered by Newman and Artists Space for the title: "It is no less racist-it's just made more everyday and, thereby, acceptable, which is the real problem." This eerily pre-dated by 15 years the war over "political correctness" which

would, in the end, and in the name of free speech, make racist expression not only acceptable but fashionable. In the June 1979 issue, AWN devoted its centerfold to commentaries on the affair. One of these questioned the proposition of the Emergency Coalition "that any use of the word 'nigger' is categorically racist." For the writer, the direction of protests against the show to funding agenCies threatened public funding for reCipients like Artists Space-"legislators would be only too happy to use this kind of incident to oppose an appropriation [[or such an off-beat organi zation as Artists Space] neither they nor many of their constituents value."7 Nevertheless, it was the whiteness of Artists Space and of the artists whose work it exhibited which tilted the matter In a later reminiscence, Pindell recalled how she and a group of others gathered at Artists Space to protest: "As the group settled in to speak with the director and her supporters, a white female artist approached the group and said, 'How dare you come down here to tell us what to do. This is a white neighbor hood!' She was warmly embraced by the director.... "B In aJune 1979 editorial, AWN jOined Pindell and the critics of Nigger Draw ings by declaring itself "against the use of epithets and racism" and expressing the hope that "since the gallery is publicly funded, ...Artists Space will discover more nonwhite artists to showcase. Their record to date implies a more subtle but no less real racism.''9 Later in the year, Pindell left her job at MoMA to take up an appointment as an associate professor of art at SUNY Stony Brook. In the same year, she was involved in a serious car accident resulting in partial

* *

memory loss. After her recovery, her work began to make a significant shift from its process orientation to autobiographical, then to political content. In May 1981. Tuli Kupferberg made his first contribution to the newspaper, a car toon department titled Toots Pore LArt. In this debut, one of Kupferberg's characteris tically amorphous characters asked another in reference to a third in the distance: "Is he an important artistT "Yeah," was the answer "How comeT "He owns 4 lofts on Spring Street." Kupferberg, born in New York , had been a vibrant figure on the anarcho-art scene since leaving graduate school in the 1940s. A cartoonist, writer, poet, compiler, Singer and song-writer he was co-founder with Ed Sanders of the seminal "literary" folk-rock group, the Fugs, which performed in its first incarnation between 1965 and 1970. The group and its outrageously satirical songs about sex, drugs , and political protest Kupferberg himself wrote such classics as "Kill for Peace" and "Wha t are you doing after the org}rT-had a huge cult following among antiwar youth . The Fugs were a direct. ifdistant, ancestor of the punk move ment of the late 1970s and early 1980s. As early as 1959, Kupferberg had pub lished a book of his drawings . called Se lected Fruits and Nuts , but it was in the 1980s that his career as a cartoonist really took off. His drawings began appearing, haphazardly sync icated , meaning rarely paid for, in dozens of alternative and under ground publications in the U.S. and Eu rope. He called his style "crude but effective. The cartoon is literary fonn . Too good drafts manship can detract from the message .... I

need never worry about thaW'o (The draw ing included in the present exhibit with the dialogue, attributable to folklore : ~rve talked long enough about myself; now you taIk about me," appeared in the December 1981/ January 1982 issue of AWN.) At the end of 1982 , following up an issue devoted to artist participation in the previous summer'sgigantic New York march against nuclear weapons, Elliott Barowitz. now President of FCA and the newspaper's principal editorial writer and executive edi tor since 1980, changed its name to Art&Artists (A&A) . The first issue under the new name carried a supplement of seven articles, edited by Larry Rosing, on the situation of older artists, called "The Gray ing of the Art World ." In his headnote, Rosing re-articulated the philosophy moti vating FCA since its birth as NAWC eleven years before: Many of us will. as many before us have, end up wanting. Wanting in the richest country in the world .... Many older art ists have no supplemental income from social security or union pension funds. Might it not have dawned on legislators that the independent artist who toils all his or her lire to make art, to give breadth to the social fabriC of our cul ture , in doing so also did not take the place in the work force that provided a salary a heaIth plan and probably a pension for his or her more traditionally employed fellow workers? In addition, older artists, if able, do not "retire"; artists work until they die. For this, studio space is a lifetime necessity. These special wants, along with the basics-housing, warmth , food and ca maraderie-must be provided."

* *

During the mid-1980s, FCA continued to grow, such that by 1987, it would have some 6000 dues-paying members; it would initiate the first nationwide credit union for artists, and distribute, in addition to A&A, a monthly newsletter called Artists Update, providing concrete information on jobs, grants, application deadlines, and exhibi tion opportunities. In January 1987, Rosing, who was then on FCA's board of directors as well as the A&A editorial board, devised the first of his "mail art" pieces to tap into the U.S. Postal Service's promotion of first-day covers. The occasion was the issue of a stamp commemorating the holding of the Pan American Games in the United States. Rosing came across a newspaper photo showing members of his home-state Minnesota's National Guard deployed for "training" in Honduras, part of a subtle strategy to employ U.S. troops in the war against Salvadoran rebels. Rosing photo copied the image onto envelopes which he shipped in bulk to the Postal Service for cancellation on the first day of issue of the commemorative. Rosing thus purposefully subverted the propaganda embodied in the stamp while using the Post Office itself to distribute the art and spread his message of protest. The February/March 1987 issue of A&A carried contributions by four other Red, Gray, and Blue artists-a lead article by Pindell, drawings by Kupferberg, plus ar ticles by two newcomers to the publication, Mary Malott and Tim Yohn. "Where is the art world 'Left' in the age of 'trickle-down,' homelessness, the rise of the Aryan Nation, and corporate art coma," asked Pindell rhetOrically, "dehumaruza

tion of art and artists into a common de nominator of profit?" Her article surveyed nearly twenty years of effort by protest groups to open up exhibition opportunities for nonwhite artists, and found that the results , despite the brouhaha such protests had stirred from time to time, were thor oughly dismal. A list of nine important group exhibitions and benefit auctions held in New York in 1986 revealed that, in four of them, 100% of the artists involved were white; in four others the percentage ofwhite artists represented was between 80% and 98%; and in the ninth-a benefit auction titled Artists Support Black Liberation no less-60% of the artists were white! Malott's contribution to the issue was a brief memoir in a series titled New York/Not New York, in which she described In per sonal, enthusiastic terms, how being in New York for several years had affected her work and outlook. Born in Indiana, Malott had raised a family in Austin, Texas, while paint ing and exhibiting in Texas and elsewhere. Her earlier work was figurative, centering on psychic-social concerns and showing the influence of demotic Mexican art in its stress on ritual and the cycles of life and death . After setting up a studio In New York in the early 1980s, Malott began making wrap-around environments on painted pan els which featured the New York cityscape peopled with mythical creatures engaged in spiritual and metaphOrical "battles" in a style recalling Renaissance murals and ceil ing paintings. From these evolved an on going series of large-scale paintings in the predella format-called Worlds Colliding in which historical and geopolitical con cerns began to take center stage.

Tim Yohn's first contribution to A&A unsigned-was a lengthy "memorandum" purporting to be a classified White House document; this was a recommendation, put forward to avoid the Vietnam-era mistake of insufficiently honoring U.S. fighting men, to create a secret commission to begin plan ning for a U.S. Central America War memo rial even before the war was offiCially ac knowledged to exist. The piece was accom panied by a call to A&A readers to steal a march on the U.S. and submit designs of their own for a Central America War memo rial. Two drawings by Kupferberg satirizing the notion ofgeneric war memorials rounded out the hoax. In the early 1970s, as an editor working for a large Manhattan book company, Yohn had been active in organizing antiwar pro tests in the publishing industry and took part in drafting widely-used (and pillOried) gUidelines for writing non-sexist English. After he went freelance as a writer and editor, he began making and exhibiting political satire in the form of photographs and drawings, like the sketches for Statues oj SpeciaLty and Self-Improvement (1986). From 1985 on, he and Malott collaborated from time to time on small satirical paint ings, which were exhibited under the tag TYMM. Up until the end of 1989, Yohn (occasionally in partnership with Malott) was a regular contributor to A&A with ar ticles, photographs, book reviews, and paro dies of advertising. As an artist. he focused on photography, often from the television screen or parodying media imagery (some of these would end up in the Flaghole collages he began making in 1990). Malott contin ued her Worlds Colliding series which in cluded Holy Wars (1990) and would culmi nate in Cradle oJCivWzation (1991).

In the same period, Barowitz continued to paint his large, often irregularly shaped and cut, unstretched canvases and devised a technique for transferring and distorting photocopies of newspaper photographs; Rosing escalated his mail art covering nu merous topics, including the Bill of Rights, pollution, women's health, and homelessness. Pindell, in the year 1988, produced 12 of her War Series of 13 video drawings, for the most part incorporating TV images of atrocities resulting from su perpower intervention in the Third World. Kupferberg kept up a prodigious output of drawings, which were "syndicated" to A&A and some 200 other publications. Meanwhile , history was quickly catch ing up with FCA and Art&Artists. The cir cumstances which had permitted the paper to maintain its quirky independence as an art world publication unbeholden to com mercial interests would prove its undoing. FCA's prinCipal service for a sizable portion of its 6000 artist-members was the provi sion of an unusually generous group health insurance plan at reasonable rates. But exploding health-care costs soon trans formed New York's Blue Cross, FCA's un derwriter, from a non-profit cooperative into a profit-making enterprise, with devastat ing results. Confronted by escalating pre miums and deteriorating service, FCA mar shaled its conSiderable lobbying expertise gained over the years in a valiant effort, but to no avail. By the fall of 1989, FCA was swamped and had to throw in the towel; it ceased all operations, including publication of A&A. The last issue (Vol. 18, No.4) appeared in August 1989 and included the fifth an nual book review supplement-several thou sand extra copies of which were mailed free

... artists, contrary to popular opinion, were not an aberration or a class apart, but workers, like the majority ojthe U.S. population....

to librartes around the country It was an unceremonious finale for a semimonthly publication that had run to some 130 is sues, but the collapse ofFCA was so sudden and total that Barowitz, Rosing, and the other board members , hoping to the very end to salvage the organization, had no resources for bringing out a farewell edition or even a last hurrah statement. The story of Artworkers News Art&Artists, given the impulse that created this unique publication, is an ironic one. The impulse was born of the idea that artists. contrary to popular opinion, were not an aberration or a class apart. but workers. like the majority of the U.S. popu lation. Thus they were entitled to the secu rity benefits that others, especially those organized by trade unions, derived from their work. And yet in a sense, the failure of the ideal advanced by FCA can be regarded as vindication of the romantic, avant-garde notion of artists that the early NAWC activ ists positioned themselves against without expressing it in so many words. A handful of superstars notwithstand ing, the huge bulk of artists remain isolated, unemployed and under employed, pitted via instrumentalities ofclass. gender. and race, one against the other for the few crumbs thrown their way, but their plight has pre figured that of the working population in general. Early on, the founders ofFCA real ized that collective bargaining was ruled ou t for art workers, but they could not foresee that, as the end of the century approached, the process would fail for workers in gen eral: the panoply ofU.S. working-class gains after World War II-rising wages, job secu rity, pensions, health care, literacy, access to higher education , home-ownership would come apart as capitalism spread

unimpeded over the globe. Artists may, but probably will not, take solace in the histori cal fact that in the traditional wealrness of their position in the capitalist economy, they have been rejoined by the majority of working people. Notes: I . In the summer of 1994. a flood of Cuban refugees setting out on small boats and rafts for Florida led Clinton to tightening the trade em bargo on Cuba and the contemplation of addi tional steps to bring about the downfall of Fidel Castro. The criSis eased when Castro took steps to block the flight of refugees. Nevertheless. the Cuban "problem" remained for the U.S. When and if the time came for outright U.S. military action against Cuba Without serious opposition from the old antiwar consensus. then the death sentence pronounced here could safely be called final. 2. Laurin Raiken. "The Rise of Artist Unity: The Social Organization of the Art World." Art Workers News , vol. 8. no. 6, Feb . 1979, p. 7 3 . Ibid. 4. Ibid .. p. 8. 5. Ibid.; the writer. Laurin Raiken, a painter and sociologist teaching at New York University, was one of the three NAWC decJarants at Chicago. 6. Art Workers Newsletter vol. 1, no . 4. p . 1. 7 Douglas Crimp, vol. 8. no. 10, p. 12. 8. Art&Artists, vol. 16. no. 1. Feb./March 1987 p. 3.

9. Vol. 8, no. 10, p. 4. 10. Quoted in Contemporary Authors. New Revi sion Series. Vol. 13. "Kupferberg." II. Vol. 12, no . 1. p . 13.

Elliott Barowitz

These paintings use themes marking (mock ing) people, places and things that are Arneri can icons - Ronald and Nancy Reagan , George Bush, Oliver North, war machines, flags and whatever else appear to be signs of American patriotism - seen against the land, sea, air planet and space . I have re-presented the Reagan-Bush era with images and words that pricked me. These documentations are recorded through the traditional interpretive material of paint and collage and with photocopies (appropri ated) and fixed onto the canvas from news media . They are an indelible reminder of those people, things, and events that weigh on my memories and thoughts . Selected Exhibitions: Red, Gray and Blue, 410 Broadway Gallery, New York, NY 1993. Four Weeks, New York, Vova Zembly Gal lery, Shertagenbusch. Holland, 1993. Beyond Scissors and Paste: Collage Today , The Gallery of the Continental Bank, Philadelphia, PA. 1993. Red, Gray and Blue, Design Arts Gallery, Drexel Univers ity, Philadelphia, PA. 1993. The Dead, New England Museum of Con temporary Art, Brooklyn, CT, 1992. A-mer-i-ca [ Laue You, exhibition and read ing performance from the Painting Port land School of Art. Portland. ME. 1992.

Reviews, Publications, Catalogs: "New York ," by Lucette ter Borg, NRC Handelsblad, Rotterdam, Holland , De cember 10, 1993. "Drexel." by Edward Sozanski, The Philadel phia Enquirer, January 29, 1993. "Elliott Barowitz Topology," by Jonathan Phillips, Art World, New York, NY. Vol. 13, no . 9, 1989. "Elliott Barowitz at Ingber." by Walter Thompson , Art in America, New York, NY, Vol. 77 no. 6 , 1989. "Manhattan's Young Turn Their Backs on the Public," by Baird Jones, Art Times , November 1988. Education: M.F.A. , University of CinCinnati, Cincin nati. OH. B.F.A., Rhode Island Sc hool ofDesign , Provi dence, RI . Exhibition Checklist: WarGames , 1990, oil, photocopy, gel trans fers, 94% x 64 inches. Whose House, 1989, oil, acrylic, photocopy, gel transfers, collage. 57 Y2 x 32 inches. A Great Moment in the History oj Sexual Politics, 1990, oil , a crylic. oil pastel, photocopy, gel transfers, 33 V2 x 24 inches. The Bush Years, 1993 , oi!. oil pastel. photo copy, gel transfers, collage, 48 x 48 inches. AlmsJor Hostages, 1989, oil, charcoal, pho tocopy gel transfers, 52 ~ x 31 V2 inches. The Head oj Wisdom is the Fear oj Allah,

1991 oil , photocopy. gel transfers, toys, collage, 76 x 76 inches.

Elliott Barowltz. A Great Moment in the History ofSexual Politics. 1990.011. acrylic. all. pastel. photocopy. gel transfers . 33Y2 x 24 inches.

Tuli Kupferberg

Tuli Kupferberg is known for his political satire, expressed in poems, cartoons, and songs. As a member of the Fugs, a self descIibed "literary folk-rock group ," he was responsible for wIiting many of the band's most outrageous and popular songs, and for perfonning theatrical skits to accom pany their live performances. Kupferberg defines himself as a non traditional anarchist. As he tells Howard Jay Rubin in The Sun: A Magazine oJldeas , "I'm a man who's still looking for an effective radical politics." In the meantime , he ex presses his political hopes and dreams in satiIical cartoons for alternative publica tions. "My style is crude, but effective. The cartoon is a literary fonn. Too good drafts manship can detract from the message I need never worry about that!" -excerpt from Contemporary Authors, New ReviSion SeIies, Volume 13. Selected Exhibitions: Fast Fonvard., Nijmegen, Holland, 1994. Museum in the Telephone Network, Tokyo, Japan, 1992. City Hall Gallery, New York, NY, 1985. Nova Zembla, Hertogenbosch, Holland, 1993. Brecht Forum, New York, NY, 1991. Greer, New York, NY, 1990. Newark Museum, Newark, NJ, 1991. Wildcat, Milan, Italy, 1990. America Rising, Berlin, Gennany, 1987 SmaU Walls, New York, NY, 1983. Education: B.A., Brooklyn College, New York, NY

Exhibition Checklist: Good 4 U 27, n .d., pen on paper, 11 x 8~ inches. Rise and Flicker, n.d., penon paper, 8Y2X 11 inches. Yes Sperm. n.d ., pen on paper, 8Y2 x 11 inches. One Man 's Meat, n .d., pen on paper, 8Y2 xII inches. I've Got It!, 1992, pen on paper, 8Y2 x 11 inches. Devil Is In Details, n.d. , pen on paper, 8 1h x 11 inches. All I Got, 1994, collage, 8 1h x 11 inches. Dark Night oJthe Soul, n .d., 8Y2 x 11 inches. Re Vote!, 1988, collage, 8Y2 x 11 inches. Smart Class, n .d., pen on paper, 11 x 8~ inches. Snakes on Parade, 1993, pen on paper, 8~ x 11 inches. How Come You're Rich, n.d., pen on paper, 11 x 8 Y2 inches. Make an Ass oj Yourself, 1989, pen on paper, 11 x 8Y2 inches. When I Hear "Culture," n.d., pen on paper, 11 x 8 Y2 inches. I've Talked EnuJ About Me, n.d., pen on paper, 11 x 8Y2 inches. Nobody Wants to Work, n.d., pen on paper, 8~ x 11 inches. Genius, 1990, pen on paper, 8Yzx 11 inches. I Hear Us Singing, 1990, pen on paper, 8Yz x 11 inches. My Prick is Bigger, 1990, collage and pen, 8~ x 11 inches. The Revolting Liartists, 1994, pen on paper, 8~ x 11 inches. A Man's Gotta Live, n .d., 8 1/2 x 11 inches. The World is a Fig, 1989, pen on paper, 8 1h x 11 inches. The World is Ending, n.d., 11 x 8Y2 inches. Know 'Em Chimpsky, n.d., 11 x 8~ inches.

WHEN 1 ff£AR THE. v/OR.D 'CULTVRE' I R.EACH FoR!'\'{ GVN." I

'NHE-N , HEAllIH£ wORD 'GVN' , Re.AcH 1=oR MY CVL: \

Tuli Kupferberg. When I Hear "Culture." n.d .. pen on paper. 11 x 8 1f., Inches.

Mary Malott

The large paintings Holy Wars and Cradle oj Civilization are part of a series called Worlds Colliding, conceived in the fonnat of early Renaissance altar-pieces. In the latter, a large panel could show the CrucifIxion or the martyrdom of a saint, while smaller predella paintings underneath recreate key scenes from the life of Christ or the saint in question. In my paintings, the crashing of worlds occupies the upper arena, while ordinary life is depicted in the predella panels below. More symbolic than literal, the spheres stand for the idea of "worlds" in the sense of culture and the ideology of historical devel opment- Old , New, "free," Third , and so on - in collision. The massiveness of the en sembles is meant to convey the globality of the conflicts which shape our conception of the world in given periods, while the predella panels provide contrasting glimpses ofpeople engulfed in everyday life - working, play ing, loving. The Mr World sculptures were started during the long buildup for the Gulf War; one may draw an organiC parallel between the movement of arms on the planet and the action of insects on logs. Finally and ultimately , Ross Perot speaks for himself.The hand gesture , known among Texans as the "hook 'em horns," is a sign of friendly recognition , not hostility

Selected Exhibitions: Slices oj the Forest, Amos Eno Gallery, New

York, NY, 1994. Mix Mash, Olin Fine Arts Gallery, Washing

ton, PA, 1993. Red, Gray, and Blue, Design Arts Gallery,

Philadelphia, PA, 1993. Red, Gray and Blue, B4A Gallery, New York,

NY , 1991. Aging, The Process, The Perception, FORUM

Gallery, Jamestown, NY, 1990. Worlds Colliding, Hewlett Gallery, Carnegie

Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, 1988. Reviews, Publications, Catalogs: "This Month in Texas," by Dean Dalton. Ultra, Houston. TX, May 1990. "Mary Malott's Cosmic Conflicts," by Den nis Wepman, Manhattan Arts, Novem ber 1989. Worlds Colliding, catalog by Elaine King, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, 1988. " ]'v pry Malott," by Frederick Ted Castle, Arts, November 1988. Education: M.F.A., University of Texas, Austin, TX. B.A., Radcliffe College, Cambridge, MA. Exhibition Checklist: Cradle oj Civilization, 1991, oil on canvas

and wood, 68 x 71 inches. Holy Wars, 1990, oil, 70 x 73 inches. Mr World #2, 1991. wood. plastic, oil, 22 x

7 x 6 1h inches. Mr World #3, 1991, wood, plastic, oil, 30 x 14 x 9 inches. Mr World #5, 1991. wood, plastic, oil, 29 x 11 x 8 inches. "Hi!" Ross 's Game, 1992, oil, 24 x 24 inches.

Mary Malolt. Cradle oj Civilization. 1991. oil on canvas and wood. 68 x 71 inches.

Howardena Pindell

The War Series was inspired by three public television series: Bill Moyers' The Secret Government: The Constitution in Crisis

(1987). Ali A. Mazrui's The Africans (1986) , and David Munroe's The Four Horsemen (1986) . Each program investigated different pOints ofview dealing with the issues raised by the use of the so-called ''Third World" as a battleground by the "super powers" dur ing the "cold war" (prior to the dismantling of the U.S .S.R.) while retaining a facade of peace and prosperity in their home coun tries (Europe , U.S.S.R. . U.S.A.). The resource for the majority of the images is The Four Horsemen. The GulfWar images are from New York network televi sion. Note: Video footage was taken by Jon Alpert while visiting Iraq with former Attor ney General Ramsey Clark during the bomb ing of Iraq by the United States and the Allies. Alpert's footage was featured in Feb ruary 1991 on the PBS program Live Wire.

Selected Exhibitions: Installation, Sky Harbor International Air port, Phoenix. AZ, 1991. Howardena Pindell: Autobiography, 1989. Autobiography: In Her Own Image (Women Artists ojColor), lntar Gallery, New York,

NY, 1988. Afro-American Abstraction: An Exhibition oj Contemporary Painting and Sculpture oj Nineteen Black American Artists, P.S. 1 (Institute for Art and Urban Resources).

New York, NY, 1981. Reviews. Catalogs. Publications: Catalog, SUNY Potsdam, Potsdam, NY Howardena Pindell: Autobiography, 1989 . Howardena PindeU: Odyssey , The Studio

Museum in Harlem, 1986. Catalog, Since the Harlem Renaissance, The Center Gallery. Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA, 1985. Brochure, "Howardena Pindell, Traveler's Memories: Japan Series," Japan Series, Birmingham Museum of Art, Birming ham, AL, 1985. Beauty By Design: The Aesthetics ojAfrican Adornment, The African-American In

stitute, New York, NY. 1984. Catalog, Afro-American Abstraction: An Ex hibition oj Contemporary Painting and Sculpture oj Nineteen Black American Artists, P.S. 1 (Institute for Art and

Urban Resources). New York, NY, 1981. Education: M.F.A. , Yale University , 1967

B.F.A., Boston University, Boston, MA, 1965.

Exhibition Checklist: War Series: Video Drawing, 1988-1991, color

photographs, 28 x 30 inches each.

Howardena PindeU. War Series: New World Slaughter # 1. 1988路1991. color photograph. 28 x 30 inches. Photo courtesy of the artist via MainsLream News Coverage.

Larry Rosing

The starting point in making a First Day oj Issue envelope is choosing a postage stamp or post card issued by the U. S. Postal Service upon which I can base a political proposition . I generally try to subvert the meaning of the stamp. I consider the Postal Service an unwitting collaborator in my endeavor I welcome the cancellations and the various additional stamped messages such as "return to s ender .. Ironically , I also like the idea of the cards and envelopes also having philatelic value . I am not particularly interested in the "touch of the artist's hand." However, I do make the collages which decorate the enve lopes and I WIite the texts. As a matter of information most envelopes have two colors of silk screen and are also offset printed in black or brown. In th e earliest envelopes I used xerox and color xerox. Other media have included rubber stamp, postage stamps and hand coloring. These envelopes are not for sale; they are not reproducible. I do sell future enve lopes and cards by subscription. Selected Exhibitions: Political Art Documentation & Distribution: The PADD Archives, The Museum of

Modem Art Library, New York, NY, 1994. Red, Gray and Blue, 450 Broadway Gallery,

New York, NY, 1993. Red, Gray and Blue, Nova Zembla Gallery,

The Ne therlands, 1993. Red, Gray and Blue: Four U.S. Artists over

50, Drexel Uni" ersity Gallery , Philadel phia, PA, 199 ~ Red, Gray and Blue, B4AGaliery New York, NY 1991. The New York City Anti-War Artist Exhibi tion, Brecht Forum, New York , NY, 1991. Artists Call Against US Intervention in Cen tral A merica. Judson Church , New York,

NY, 1984. Reviews. Publications. Catalogs: Political Art Documentation & Distribution: The PADD Archives, Museum of Modern

Art Library, New York , NY 1994. "Outside Ou tsider Art." by Kenneth L. Ames , The Artist Outsider, Creativity and the Boundary oj Culture, Smithsonian In stitution Press, Washington & London,

1994.

Education: Graduate work in art history, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis , MN. MAT.. College ofSt. Thomas, st. Paul, MN, 1963. B.F.A., Minneapolis College of Art & Design, Minneapolis , MN, 1958. Exhibition Checklist: Minnesota National Guard, 1987, xerox,

stamp, cancellation, 5 1h x 11 inches. Fireworks Over Flag, 1987, xerox, stamp,

cancellation, 5 1h x 11 inches. Constitutional Convention, postcard, 1987,

xerox, rubber stamp, post card, cancel lation. 5 x 7 inches. Etemal Vigilance ., 1987, black & blue xerox, stamp, cancellation. 5 Y2 x 11 inches. ai/Slick, postcard. 1989, xerox, silk screen, cancellation, 5 x 7 inches. A Toast to Abbie, 1989, offset. silk screen, stamp, cancellation, 5Y1 x 11 inches. Homeless (Space Station Hologram), 1989 ,

half-tone photograph with hand color ing, cancellation. 5 1/2 x 11 inches. Rehnquist Supreme Court, 1990, half-tone photograph. silk screen, stamp, cancel lation, 5Y1 x 11 inches. Prometheus Captured (Olympian) , 1990, off set printed in brown and hand coloring, stamp, cancellation, 5 'h x 11 inches. 5 Justices Prostate Cancer 1991. offset printing. hand coloring, stamp, cancel lation, 5 Y1 x 11 inches. On Honoring Those Who Served, 1991, offset printing. silk s creen. stamp, cancella tion , 5 V2 x 11 inches. W E . B. Du Bois , 1992 , offset printing, silk screen, stamp, cancellation, 5 1/2 x 11 inches. Flag Over White House, 1992. offset print ing, rainbow & black silk screen. stamp, cancellation, 5 1h x 11 inches. A Pledge ojAllegiance, 1992, offset printing. silk screen, stamp, cancellation, 5 1/2 x 11 inches. JusticeThurgoodMarshall, 1993, offset print ing, stamp, cancellation, 5 1h x 11 inches. Cherokee Strip, 1993, offset printing, stamp, cancellation, 5 1h x 11 inches. Soccer/Health Care, May 1994, half-tone printing with hand coloring, stamp, can cellation, 5 'h x 11 inches.

York 10013

patriot and defender oft he Bill of'lQ9hts on this the 200'" A nniversary a/the writing o/those amendments to the Constitution.

Larry Rosing. A Toast to Abbie. 1989. silk screen. offset. stamp. cancellation. 5Y.! x II inches.

Ro~1og

I Saint Paul • 76lolghl SIrae1 . New York New Yorl( 001J

On RollO"'" nose no

5<"'"

nf':ed

.-anior MOlhers :\ltrl !t;Ons.

o:cn!t"-_h"l knm..., the pUryo5C frown1

Thr.Oa.n ~o'"

ollbe Ne")Or.. World t(.I",Orlicr

as slau&hltr !ltlr~ In the sand PlOima. rrrenada, V!elnam Ho!JowviclOry

Desert Storm. a sfaughl.tf on the roaO: stMle. dropped from the sky desert de:lth. blood and ol! in the ~ruJ. till nor naked

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poor. powerless Bond3ge.I!ILJbJ~,atlon

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Larry Rosing. On Honoring Tl1ose_ Who Served. 1991. offset printing. silk screen. stamp. cancellation. 5Y> x I I inches.

: Saint Paul' 76 Laight SUeet· New York.

Ne~

York 10013

This sitting. activ ist Rehnquist Court in its one progressive decision affi rmed that Joey Johnson. In burning t he United

States nag

wa~

ex.ercising his right of fre e speech.

Larry Rosing. Rel1nquistSupreme Court. 1990. half-tone photograph. silk screen. stamp. cancellation. 5'hx 11 Inches.

Tim Yohn

My work is satirical in nature and intent, usually inspired by political developments as relayed (or not) by the mass media . The flag pieces were begun in 1990, during a period of opportunistic posturing by estab lishment politicians occasioned by flag des ecration and other transgressions commit ted by artists. At some point in that period. television carried images ofRomanian rebels waving flags from which they had cut out the Communist symbol (hammer and sickle. red star, whichever) leaving holes in the center It occurred to me that by looking through a hole in the flag one might see a lot. Even though the U.S. Supreme Court eventually ruled that flag mistreatment was protected as free speech, artists continue to be hassled about their uses of the flag, while merchandisers have a field day with the Stars and Stripes, using them for bikinis. towels. on flash lights, etc., etc. I don't expect to be hassled, however, since my holes have gotten so big in relation to the whole that the effect is merely one of a decorative framework , like bunting at a patriotic event. Besides, it a ppears that Old Glory may have been superseded in potency among those who take their flags seriously - for Dan Quayle was reported to have stood with 2000 others at a conference last January as they recited. "I pledge allegiance to the Christian flag and to the Saviour. for whose kingdom it stands. .. (see The New Yorker, July 18, 1994, p. 37). Well. there they go again, but first I'm working on a proposal to do with Mickey Mouse ears- burning a pair at Manassas. Virginia - if! can get funding for it.

Selected Exhibitions: Red. Gray and Blue. 450 Broadway Gallery, New York, NY. 1993. Red, Gray and Blue. Design Arts Gallery. Philadelphia. PA, 1993. Choice. A.I.R. Gallery. New York. NY. 1992. Red. Gray. and Blue. B4A Gallery, New York. NY, 1991 Comment. Nexus Contemporary Arts Cen ter. Atlanta, GA, 1988. Witness oj the Time. Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts , Grand Rapids. MI. 1988. Reviews, Publications, and Catalogs: "Galleries." by Edward Sozarski. Philadel phia Enquirer, January 29. 1993. Education: B.A.. Columbia College, New York, NY, 1961 . Exhibition Checklist: Authorized Autobiography. 1993. wood.

metal , synthetic fiber, paper. ink. 9 x 14 inches. National Security System, 1992, wood. plas tic, metal. wire . synthetic fiber, lOih x 18 x 7 inches. Magic Carpet (Flaghole #14), 1991. paper, synthetic fiber , 16'/2 x 211:h x 1 Y2 inches. Confinned The Right Choice, Baby, For Any Venue (Flag hole #15), 1991 , pho

tography, synthetic fiber, human hair, 18 x 10 '12 inches. North/ haU(F1aghole #6), 1990. photographs, synthetic fiber, 8% x 10% inches. SketchjoraStatueojSpecialty, 1986, pencil and ink on paper, 12% x 8% inches. Sketch jor a Statue oj Self-Improvement,

1986, pencil and ink on paper, 12% x 8% inches.

Tim Yohn. Authorized Autobiography. 1993. wood . m eta l. s ynthetic fiber. pa per. ink . 9 x 14 inches .

Acknowledgments

The FORUM Gallery at Jamestown Community College P O. Box 20 Jamestown, New York 14702-0020 (716) 665-9107 The FORUM Gallery is located on the cam pus of Jamestown Community College at 525 Falconer Street. Gallery hours: Tuesday Saturday 11 a.m. (Thursday 11 a.m. 7 p.m.)

5 p.m.

The FORUM Gallery presents significant and professionally executed solo and group exhibitions of contemporary art and related programs, events, and services to both the artis t and non -artis t residen ts of Chautauqua County, NY, and the surround ing area. Through our programs, we stri', e to stimulate discussion , to challen~c as sumptions, and to present artwork relevant to the social and cultural life of the general and special populations within our service area.

Gallery staff: Dan R. Talley, Director Michelle Henry, Assistant

Programs ofThe FORUM Gallery are funded in part by the Jamestown Community Col lege Foundation; the Faculty Student Asso ciation at JCC; and our corporate and indi vidual members .

Student assistants: Clark Myers D. Clarke Smith

Catalog design: NeoText Editorial/production assistant: Michelle Henry

Gallery development committee: Suzanne Allen Nancy Bargar Reginald Darling Wade Davenport William Disbro Shauna Frischkom Robert Hagstrom John Hiester Gloria Lasser David Munnell Lois Strickler Mary Beth Za cher

Catalog printing: Studio Printing, Jamestown, New York

Unless otherwise noted, all photographs were provided by the artists. All dimensions are listed in inches with height preceding width, then depth. The FORUM Gallery is an Associate Mem ber of the National Association of Artists Organizations.

Jamestown Comr lUnity College Board of Trustees: Samuel Alessi Je'Anne Bargar Donna Beal Mary Ellen Bonner Victoria James Marianne McElrath Dr Lillian Ney Clarence Peterson Samuel Price, Jr., Esq. James Weathe rell, Jr

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