Art can’t fix what’s broken, but hats off to artists who try. They turn the wheel or at least remind us that there is a wheel to be turned.
HIGH FIVE TO FIVE:
1. Shepard Fairey. This single image inspired a tipping point.
Andy Warhol wasn’t above a similar ploy in 1968 1972. His bests Fairey’s, although not in voting booth results.
Other Warhol contributions: He gave interviews.
These photographs of albatross chicks were made on Midway Atoll, a tiny stretch of sand and coral near the middle of the North Pacific. The nesting babies are fed bellies-full of plastic by their parents, who soar out over the vast polluted ocean collecting what looks to them like food to bring back to their young. On this diet of human trash, every year tens of thousands of albatross chicks die on Midway from starvation, toxicity, and choking.
To document this phenomenon as faithfully as possible, none of the plastic in any of these photographs was moved, placed, manipulated, arranged, or altered in any way. These images depict the untouched stomach contents of baby birds in one of the world’s most remote marine sanctuaries, more than 2000 miles from the nearest continent.
3. Jack Daws. Remember Florida’s role in presidential politics, circa 2000? Daws tried to signal us in time to prevent a repeat in 2004.
SERFS UP! 2004
Chromogenic print of artist-made construction from sand from Florida
photographed by Richard Nichol
32 x 40 inches, Edition of 5
4. Sam Durant. Tell the truth. When it comes to history, an attempt to essay the thing that actually occurred is better than a make-nice Thanksgiving fable.
5. Grant Barnhart. Seeing ourselves as others see us, with rhythm. If this painting had a backup band, it would be Queen.
Plus…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/troygua/3809136366/in/set-72157619257918778/