Politics vs. Arts

Yes, that would be Abe Lincoln receiving some fellatio from a pretty gal. It's part of a 2006 series called 'Join or Die.' You can view Justine Lai having sex with many other American Presidents here.

While I'm sure many opposed her graphic images with such 'esteemed men', it got me to thinking about the way that politics and arts can be intrinsically connected to one another.

I think the exhibit is pretty genius, we tend to think of Presidents as being very serious and forget that they're human and obviously fuck. I'm sure we all remember how Clinton's approval rating was reported to have gone up during the whole debacle over his Lewinsky times in the oval office. This exhibit reminds us that there's the public side of somebody and the personal side.

Earlier this week, there was (imho) the stupidest uproar over a billboard in British Columbia for Coors Light that declares that it is 'Colder than most people in Toronto.' Do I agree with the statement? No. Do I care. Nope TIMES INFINITY!!! Stick and stones may break your bones, but names will never hurt you. I learned that when I was 4 and yet, we have grown ups screaming FOUL over it. The worse part is that you've got the media covering it, likes it's a big deal and then the billboard is then taken down. Why? It's getting you publicity and in my book, any publicity is good publicity.

Oh wait, we're now in this ridiculous world of facebook/twitter. Where we count somebody joining a group called 'I hate Coors' as being a legit pissed off customer. Nope, it's simply somebody willing to click 'join this group' button. That's all it takes. Just a click and you've voted your solitarity. One used to have to put pen to paper, make a phone call, or march in the streets to protest. But really..who does that?? That's tiring.

Really all that happened was that the ad was proven correct. We truly are cold Torontonians, as we lack a sense of humour and can't just accept a little coastal ribbing to sell a few beers.

A few weeks ago for Caribana, the queer community seemed to delight in joy at stopping Elephant Man from performing over his homophobic lyrics. My real disappointment was that there was no engagement into dialogue with the artist. We banned him. Big whoop. He'll sing in another venue. Why not discuss the issue with him? Maybe he'll see US as BEING less OPPRESSIVE. But no, we sent our e-mails, updated our fbook statuses and declared victory. Has there been any link between such lyrics and actual hate? I'm pretty sure Ice-T is on a mainstream show and even more ironic playing a cop and he's the guy singing Cop Killer. Why aren't we shutting him down?

Now to shamelessly self promote... On Monday, I'm happy to be able to present a show called Hard & Able: celebrating queer disability. You'll find that most of my works like to combine some sort of social issue into a creative piece. Some times, it's misjudged (Shoot A Load, Not Yourself) and other times, it's seen as it is (Chair fucker). The hope with my pieces is that hopefully it acts as a catalyst towards civil discussion. Which is what I think all art should engage you to do.

While I certainly encourage artists to continue to mix politics with their art. I am going to have to plead with art recipients (a.k.a. the audience) from jumping to over politicize their reactions so quickly. :)