How do you portray grace in stone? Like Bernini or the Pièta? This is also a political matter, as proved by the Martin Luther King Jr. National Monument recently dedicated in Washington, D.C. The question inquires whether artists can transcend politics or get trapped and limited by them—which can happen with our own unwary responses to art.
Each publication of CityArts reviews that struggle in various art endeavors, but this time shines special light on the issue with a section of articles that take a serious look at the MLK monument. This two-part, 30-foot granite sculpture puts art on the front page of national consciousness. When was the last time that happened? When Picasso premiered his large-scale Chicago mask in 1967? When a madman smashed Michelangelo’s Pièta in 1972?
On the cover: MLK Monument photo courtesy of the USDA. Samuel L. Jackson as Martin Luther King Jr. by Mary Ellen Mark, courtesy of the production.
In the art world, where the most pressing public concern is how much a painting raises at auction, the ethics of commissions, grants, design and social impact are routinely ignored. The King statue calls attention to the art world’s political consciousness. King may be universally respected for his moral courage, but that doesn’t mean his likeness is safe from being used for unworthy purposes—hidden agendas or simply a lack of consciousness.
That enormous American monument (and its questionable commission) needs ethical scrutiny—just like the Elizabeth Streb and William Forsythe choreography that Valerie Gladstone and Joel Lobenthal, respectively, give fine examination. There’s every reason a work of public art should meet the same standards that Mario Naves and John Goodrich find, respectively, in Georges Braque and Ruth Miller. A monument’s value is found in how it commemorates an idea and whether its craft and imagination are a sufficient tribute. John Lingan, Emma Lockridge, Maureen Mullarkey and Gregory Solman offer strong, distinct perspectives on the MLK stone work. Their essays should illuminate public response rather than further political idolatry.
About the cover: Two representations of MLK—the monument and the Broadway impersonation by Samuel L. Jackson—are juxtaposed. Art director Ed Johnson adds tints that evoke current political quandary, with the result of a compelling Janus effect. Jackson’s surprising portrayal of King in Katori Hall’s play The Mountaintop seeks to remedy political hypocrisy and the moral amnesia that now defines King worship. The Janus effect—more than one way of looking at art—brings thinking back.
For all articles, please go to:
Belief with Wings
Monuments to King: Art Meets Politics
Virtual Deity
Crowd Pleaser
Stone Cold
