One of my duties as an art gallery's social media intern is to find and report on interesting news happening in the art world. Recently, while I was browsing for stories to post, I came across what has probably been one of my favorite responses and reactions to the PEOTUS. I didn't feel comfortable posting about it on the gallery's blog, but this is my blog. So here's something that inspired me this week after days upon days of hopelessness.
Annette Lemieux, an American "picture theory" artist, has requested that her sculpture "Left Right Left Right," currently on view at the Whitney Museum of American Art, be flipped and displayed upside-down from now until the end of its exhibition "Human Interest: Portraits from the Whitney's Collection" on February 12th, 2017.
"Left Right Left Right" consists of 30 pictures of raised fists mounted on pine poles. It reflects on the role of protest in a democracy, it mimics picket sign demonstrations, it speaks to the constant fluctuation of American politics. Turning the work upside down "suggests a departure from this usual pattern of power transferred back and forth, from right to left; it evokes a capsized vessel, a collapse of the fulcrum on which opposing parties both pivot." It is a statement not only on the current reality in America, but on the roles playable by political art and artists.
This video, posted by the Whitney Museum's Instagram a few days ago, shows the museum's staff and crew deinstalling and reinstalling the sculpture in its new shape. The caption reads: "Following last week's presidential election, artist #AnnetteLemieux requested that her work Left Right Left Right (1995) be reinstalled upside down. Lemieux’s gesture suggests a commitment to individual agency, the continuing power of protest, and a feeling, in her words, that the 'world has turned upside down.' #WhitneyPortraits"
Why did this reaction strike me so much? Perhaps it's because I remember seeing this sculpture last semester, on my second trip to the Whitney. I had gone for the first time a week earlier with my college scholar program to see Laura Poitras' exhibition "Astro Noise," and was so drawn to the museum's layout and messages that I had to come back immediately to show my partner what I'd learned. By the time we came back, "Human Interest" was installed and Lemieux' sculpture was on view.
I am so proud of Annette Lemieux's motion. Fine art has always had a reputation of being untouchable, fragile, and silent. To move a sculpture so radically, to completely change its meaning right in the middle of its viewing, is powerful. It gives me hope in a time where I am extremely open about my pessimism. I'd love to see it inspire other artists to be so unabashedly dynamic.
I have always been interested in the political contextualizing of art. No art exists in a vacuum and everything is a product of its environment. Some artists are just more aware of this than others.
