More Art, Some Politics

Sarah Palin makes me crazy. I hate that anyone finds her appealing since she so embodies a goyishe version of what my mother wanted me to be--success as a Donna Reed looking mom in a man's world. Last night watching the debate, I kept thinking of works by Marilyn Minter and Lutz Bacher, the way they were once accused of adopting the male gaze and dressing it up as a feminist statement. Sarah Palin is exactly that, the centerfold posited as feminist in the midst of a male arena. It never becomes feminist, but it's powerfully alluring, at least to those who never revised their gaze to begin with. In other words, it works - if you are unself-conscious in your sexist outlook on the world.

In any case, the debate made everything posited as political outside the political sphere look out of date and old-fashioned. At least, that's what I thought at the preview for Gilbert & George, a retrospective resolutely stuck in the 1990s. G&G make these mural-sized collaged statements that look a lot like stained-glass windows, but in spirit are the Disneyed rendition of queer theory. Lots of AIDS, sperm, cocks and youths turned into punchy logos for the G&G brand. The duo have always posed as prim, grey suited, dandies, a bit nerdy, that sets them apart from the all-black art world. And their billboards are populist though I'm not sure if they are popular.

Over at MOMA, there was a different style of political art, but one equally rooted in past tactics. Rmember deconstruction? That's Josephine Meckseper's installation using fashion shoots plus ads from the 1970s that could have been made by Victor Burgin circa 1977. This work really cried out for a picture of Palin--let's deconstruct that--instead of women in lingerie, an easy target. There's one small corner piece where Meckseper mentions the war, but the rest of her attack on consumerism and power was already being taken care of by Wall Street which has unilaterally rid of us of our spending power this week. Oh, well, since this hasn't yet effected the art world--Christie's is putting up a Matisse for $160,000,000 in November--we can think about that tomorrow.