A(R)T evolution on Main Street
This is the story of a series of political art pieces I created, with the help of my studio-mate, the multi-talented Jeremy Roth. They were displayed on Main Street in the small Oregon town where I have chosen to wait out the inevitable collapse of capitalism. The evolution of these pieces was informed and inspired by the racial justice protests of 2020, a year-long research dive into Black liberation movements, the reaction of locals to the original incarnation of the fists used in the pieces, and what had to be the worst year I’ve ever experienced for U.S. politics.
TL;DR — scroll down to see pictures, descriptions and artist statements.
The precursor to this series was a set of four large wooden fists mounted to the top of a downtown historic building I have spent the last decade-plus restoring. The fists were stained black, red/brown, raw, and blue, for a vaguely black, red, white, and blue effect. It was an intentionally uncomfortable piece that was meant to hint at both solidarity and conflict, to evoke the social struggles of the moment without feeding directly into any of the internet sloganism that I generally find to be more divisive than anything else.
People in my small, predominantly white town were definitely intrigued. Folks walking down the street read the “Artist’s Statement” and thinly-veiled manifesto, as intended. I got inspired comments from people that related with my writing, as hoped. And I got social-media pushback from woker-than-thou activists, as expected. Trump/Pence voters were upset that I put black and brown fists up on Main Street. Biden/Harris voters were upset that I put white and blue fists up. It was an art piece that shook people up, which I was fine with.
I was fine, that is, until I had a long conversation with a family of color that was particularly upset about the white and blue fists. It was the teenagers that really got to me. They expressed feeling threatened and I couldn’t shake a sadness about that. I took down the two offending fists only to find my neighbor very upset about it the next day. My neighbor, co-owner of the business directly adjacent to the fists, is a Black woman that had been using the art piece as a prop for explaining racial issues to her mostly Trump-supporting customers. She insisted I restore the piece to its original state.
This, I figured, is exactly what I get for sticking my privileged and opinionated Jew nose into 2020’s mix of racial tension, reality-show politics, COVID anxiety, and Facebook posturing. I didn’t mind challenging internet virtue signalers with my art, it would be fair to say that I intended to, but to upset some of the few people of color in my town was another story. And so here I was, guaranteed to either upset this sweet family or my sweet neighbor.
After some deliberation and quite a few more heartfelt conversations, i ended up putting the fists back up for a while, vowing to myself to transform the whole thing into a different piece by year’s end. The result was the displays described in the sections below. They were up from just after Christmas, through the Capitol riots and the inauguration with no broken windows, until the end of January. Whether they are any less problematic than the original is a question I leave for the reader to decide. Either way, all power to the people!
Who Watches The Watchmen? (2020)
Ivan DelSol (b. 1971) with Jeremy Roth (b. 1979), Cottage Grove, Oregon
Multimedia on chain-link. Stain and acrylic on plywood. Digital printing. Light.
Description:
A blue fist splattered with orange paint. The fist has a black Dr. Manhattan symbol in the center, over which floats a hologram of disturbing animations of atoms, explosions, and Dr. Manhattan himself. The backdrop is chain link fence covered with comic book panels from the original Watchmen graphic novel. The panels depict Comedian and Nite Owl, looking very much like super-cops, chasing off people graffitiing a wall with “Who Watches The Watchmen”. The most poignant point in their conversation is…
Nite Owl: What happened to the American Dream?
Comedian: It came true. You’re lookin’ at it.
Artists’ Statement:
In Alan Moore and Dave Gibson’s groundbreaking graphic novel “Watchmen”, the blue-skinned Dr. Manhattan becomes a super-human being able to create or destroy anything at will. He is the ultimate destructive force, and finds himself in the service of the United States government, helping it to become the Earth’s sole superpower. The question is raised: when a person has such power and acts as a global policeman, who is he accountable to?
This art piece asks many related questions. When we give a person or group the authority to use violence, how do we ensure that they do not abuse this power? Who can be trusted to wield such primal force in our communities and in our world? Do we carefully select the most moral, humane, and responsible among us? What systems can we put in place to make sure that such power is not used for exploitative or unjust purposes? How can we be sure that violence is only used as a last resort?
As Dr. Manhattan experiences the immense power of his position, he becomes more and more removed from his own conscience. His every action is of questionable morality by nature of being enacted from a position of absolute domination and control. Eventually, even his companions are forced to wonder whether there is still a human being behind the blue.
What does the color blue mean to you? Who holds the power on our streets? In our government? On our planet? How do we hold these ever more consolidated forces accountable? As human technological power advances, and authoritarian structures clamp down on our society, these questions become more and more critical to our survival.
Dismantling Supremacy (2020)
Ivan DelSol (b. 1971) with Jeremy Roth (b. 1979), Cottage Grove, Oregon
Multimedia on chain-link. Stain and acrylic on plywood. Light.
Description:
A raw-wood fist, splattered with red and black paint, is broken apart and hung in pieces on a chain-link fence. Above it floats a hologram displaying short clips of revolutionaries, artists, and philosophers of color. They speak silently and intensely to the viewer, sometimes seeming to make eye contact.
Artists’ Statement:
There is still so much to be done to unravel white supremacy in America. Our constitution speaks clearly about equality, yet at the time of its creation this equality included only white males with property. This self-declared supremacy of the white man was used to justify some of the greatest suffering and most abhorrent acts in history. The painful echoes of this trauma still reverberate in our society today. Somehow, after all the damage that it has done, white supremacy still festers here, a deep spiritual wound. We must look unflinchingly into the mirror. It is past time for all Americans to acknowledge the founding injustice, and work to move our society towards the true spirit of “all men are created equal”. To heal this primal American trauma, we must acknowledge the white supremacy in our history and in our present, and dismantle it once and for all.
In more recent times, the same forces that have worked against anti-war movements, worker solidarity movements, and pro-democracy movements, have disproportionately targeted black liberation and civil rights movements. In the 1960’s, government organizations, through the COINTELPRO operation, sabotaged every grassroots attempt at positive change. Black organizations got the worst of it, from infiltrations to false arrests to murders. Throughout American history, people of color have had to work against white supremacy and a system that reinforces it. The self-serving and violent forces they have struggled against are the same forces that all people must now struggle against as we transform our human society from one based on exploitation to one based on mutual benefit and responsibility.
The projected imagery includes revolutionaries, artists, and philosophers of color that have inspired me to greater understanding of myself, my country, and the historical struggles still raging. Many seen here were murdered for their work. Some are working still. I am honored to have learned from them. This piece is an homage to their service to brotherhood, cultural evolution, and the self-reflection we so desperately need in the world right now.
Pictured: James Baldwin, Nina Turner, Malcolm X, Paris, Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Afrika Bambaataa, Martin Luther King Jr., Chuck D, Briahna Joy Gray, Boots Riley, Cornel West, Fela Kuti, Fred Hampton, Santigold, Gandhi, Angela Davis, Killer Mike, Winona LaDuke, M.I.A.
Unclench The Fist (2020)
so that we may all live long and prosper
Ivan DelSol (b. 1971) and Jeremy Roth (b. 1979), Cottage Grove, Oregon
Stain and acrylic on plywood.
Description:
Where once black, red, white, and blue fists were mounted, only the black and red fists remain. The white fist has been replaced by a white hand in the Vulcan sign for “live long, and prosper”.
Artists’ Statement:
The United States was built on land stolen from indigenous people, on the backs of kidnapped and enslaved people. In modern times, we continue to struggle with this shameful legacy and the damage it has done to the spirit of so many. If we are to live up to the values we claim as a country, we must come to understand the wrongs that have been done, and we must continue working to right them. Each of us has a part in this work, whether it be outspoken on the frontlines of change or in small everyday kindnesses.
Our world is wracked by violence, suffering, exploitation, and injustice. To end this self-destructive cycle, we will have to learn to see each other as one human family. We have a choice. We can help each other to create a society worthy of our children, or we can perish divided, under the ever-increasing weight of selfishness, short-sightedness, and fear.
Let’s choose to build a world safe enough to unclench our fists and clasp hands in solidarity. It will take love, compassion, and the courage to change. Make it so.
