We heard countless words during the 2016 United States presidential election.
We heard Donald Trump say things that had never been said before by someone hoping to be the most powerful person in the world. Ugly things. The very next day, we were told he would “pivot” in order to present himself as a reasonable acceptable leader. This “pivot” consisted of Trump poorly reading words on a teleprompter that were written by political hacks.
Hillary Clinton may have been the most qualified person ever to run for the presidency. She tried to appear as a heroine of the people. Just as quickly, the media portrayed her as a bumbling threat to US national security because she used a private email server.
Before the U.S. election, the disastrous Brexit passed in the UK because many people were convinced that Brexit meant that immigrants would have to “exit” Britain. In France, propaganda is leading to the rise of the extreme right-wing.
Propaganda is the art of using lies to convince someone or some group of people that something very bad for them is actually very good for them.
The most powerful political art reveals the truth behind propaganda.
Powerful art doesn’t pivot. Powerful art explores new techniques to reveal art as an ever-changing landscape.
In a real sense, all John Heartfield art was “
Art As A Weapon.” He embraced Dada to rebel against portraits and landscape. Dada was a weapon against the art Dadaists felt cooperated with the corruption of the Weimar Republic. His book covers rebelled against the concept of a meaningless book dust jacket. His use of “art as a weapon” against fascism, Adolf Hitler, and The Third Reich earned him the number-five position on the Gestapo’s Most Wanted List.
CURRENT EXHIBITS presents more art that reveals the lies behind the propaganda. Art by contemporary artists who find inspiration in the work of John Heartfield. Art that takes risks. Art that doesn’t pivot, but remains true to the courage of the artist.