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Issue Oriented Art

Curator's Corner

Autumn Is Upon Us: Yun-Fei Ji

Monday, September 30, 2024 | Karl Cole

I’m marking the onset of autumn with a work of art from Chinese American artist Yun-Fei Ji. His work tackles many subjects about contemporary China, as well as world-wide issues such as pollutio ...

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Curator's Corner

Poverty Awareness Month: Zoe Strauss

Monday, January 8, 2024 | Karl Cole

Poverty Awareness Month evolved out of recognition by Congress in 2009 that the U.S. poverty rate is rising at an alarming level every decade. I doubt it is any coincidence that January was chosen as ...

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Curator's Corner

Hispanic Heritage Month: Antonio Frasconi

Tuesday, October 10, 2023 | Karl Cole

Like graphic artists in Mexico during the mid-1900s, Antonio Frasconi was a tireless chronicler of poor and underserved people—first depicting those of Uruguay, where he was raised, and later am ...

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Curator's Corner

Facing the Past: Jennifer Karady

Monday, January 9, 2023 | Karl Cole

Many people would probably prefer to forget about the wars in both Afghanistan and Iraq, but there is something therapeutic about facing them and admitting they happened. Artist Jennifer Karady uses h ...

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Curator's Corner

HIV/AIDS Awareness Month: Donald Moffett

Monday, December 13, 2021 | Karl Cole

Let’s commemorate the beginning of HIV/AIDS Awareness Month with the work of AIDS activist artist Donald Moffett. His artwork He Kills Me sums up how the first years of the epidemic went and why ...

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Curator's Corner

Universal Human Rights Month: Conrad Botes

Monday, December 6, 2021 | Karl Cole

Artist Conrad Botes began his satirical work in the form of bitingly sarcastic, often abrasive comics from a studio he co-founded called Bitterkomix. He publishes comics to this day, alongside creatin ...

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Curator's Corner

Women's (Art) History Month: Erika Blumenfeld

Monday, March 22, 2021 | Karl Cole

Women’s Art History Month continues with a look at an artist who has a totally unique body of work, pursuing with photography what artists have done since its inception in the 1840s: the use of ...

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Curator's Corner

Confronting Racism with Art: Michael Ray Charles

Monday, September 14, 2020 | Karl Cole

Unfortunately, African American artists in the 2000s continue to confront similar concerns that their forefathers addressed during the Harlem Renaissance. After nearly 100 years, issues of racism, job ...

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Curator's Corner

Rethinking Romanticism: Jennifer Karady

Friday, August 21, 2020 | Karl Cole

To close out my Rethinking Romanticism series, let’s look at romanticism in 21st century art. In the instance of Jennifer Karady’s subjects, that’s probably an insulting term. If you ...

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Curator's Corner

Rethinking Classicism: Kelly Richardson

Friday, August 14, 2020 | Karl Cole

Let’s wrap up my Rethinking Classicism series with a look at what might be regarded as classic art of today in the future. 100 years from now, will video installation be considered a classi ...

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Curator's Corner

Pride Month: Zanele Muholi

Monday, June 15, 2020 | Karl Cole

My Pride Month celebration continues with photographer Zanele Muholi. ...

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Curator's Corner

Recognizing Pride Month: Glenn Ligon

Monday, June 24, 2019 | Karl Cole

Last week I featured an artist from the 1800s, Mary Ann Willson, for Pride Month 2019. Today I continue my Pride Month posts with a look at contemporary artist Glen Ligon. ...

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Curator's Corner

Not Just Furniture: Gonçalo Mabunda

Monday, September 17, 2018 | Karl Cole

When we talk about art that reconciles political, spiritual, and social beliefs all in one pertinent statement—and I’m certainly not talking about ancient Assyrian art, Jacques-Louis David ...

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Curator's Corner

Spirituality in African Art: Johannes Mashego Segogela

Monday, September 9, 2013 | Karl Cole

It is my fervent hope for peace in the Middle East. In that interest, I’m introducing you to an artist who expressed the same hopes of his fellow South Africans for their country during the end ...

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Curator's Corner

African American History Month 2012: Glenn Ligon

Monday, February 13, 2012 | Karl Cole

During the Harlem Renaissance (ca. 1919–1939), African American artists encouraged each other to document  the black experience in the United States. This included uplifting scenes of Afric ...

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