THE CENTER FOR CONTEMPORARY POLITICAL ART
CCPArt TO HOST TAP2019 CONFERENCE June 23RD IS ARTISTIC FREEDOM AT RISK IN THE AGE OF TRUMP? Julian Raven, Tim Atseff and Jim Boden, the three artists whose portraits of the President are now on view in The Center for Contemporary Political Art’s current exhibition, The Good, the Bad & the Ugly! Portraits of Our (Unindicted) Leader, will take part in a day-long series of public discussions and debates about their work and the political climate which informs it, next Sunday, June 23rd from noon to 6 p.m. A wine and chips reception will follow. “It’s my hope that if enough common ground can be found among the artists, maybe we’ll learn something that will help reduce polarization elsewhere in the country. If the artists can reach agreement, we hope a statement will be issued at the end of the conference calling on the President to respect artistic freedom in the United States, while also stating explicitly what the artists would consider violations of it,” said Charles Krause, the former journalist who founded CCPArt last year. “It’s been my observation that artists and intellectuals are often the first to be targeted when democracies slide toward autocratic rule,” Krause said. “Sadly, I think the time has come to explore the ‘what-ifs’ of our increasingly dysfunctional political institutions and system. Can civil society, beginning with Julian, Tim and Jim, agree on lines that must not be crossed?” What should make the discussion both unusual and interesting is that Raven is a born-again Christian supporter of the President who painted his massive portrait, titled Unafraid and Unashamed, in 2015, shortly after Trump announced his candidacy; and he remains a strong