American

Warrington Colescott

U.S. unknown
Judgment Day at NEA 94.0013

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The subject of this print, the funding allocated by the National Endowment for the Arts, provided Warrington Colescott with a wide and tempting target. The Federal agency came under fire in the 1990s for grants awarded to controversial artists and projects. Colescott refers to one of the most controversial awards in the foreground-someone on the panel is looking at a Robert Mapplethorpe exhibition catalogue. Critics have frequently commented upon the carnival-like atmosphere of Colescott's work. His subversive look at Americans, "in all of their avid rapaciousness," as one critic has said, sheds light on all sorts of characters, hard, flabby, self-righteous, bored, greedy, calculating, and small-minded. The combination results in slicing satirical looks at contemporary issues and politics.

 

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