Towards the end of the 60s, the United States was in full conflict in both Vietnam, against a foreign power, whether at home, between Americans for and against the war, for and against the status quo.
”Artists Respond” – open until 18 August next at SAAM (Smithsonian American Art Museum) of Washingtonn – it is the most comprehensive opportunity to examine the contemporary impact of the Vietnam War on American art. The exhibition is unprecedented in its historical scale and depth and brings together almost 100 works by fifty-eight of the most visionary and provocative artists of the period. Galvanized by the moral urgency of the Vietnam War, these artists reimagined the purposes and uses of art, influencing developments in multiple movements and media: painting, sculpture, printmaking, performance, installation, documentary art, and conceptualism.
This exhibition features well-known and rarely discussed works and offers a broader view of American art during wartime, introducing a variety of previously marginalized artistic voices, including women, African Americans, Latinas, and Asian Americans. The exposuzious brings to life an era in which artists struggle to respond to the turbulent times and openly contested issues central to American civic life.
Artists Respond: American Art and the Vietnam War, 1965-1975 is organized by Melissa Ho, Curator of XNUMXth Century Art at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
In this context there is also an installation by the artist Tiffany Chunginternationally appreciated. Tiffany Chung: Vietnam, Past Is Prologue explores the legacies of the Vietnam War and its aftermath through maps, paintings and videos that share the stories of former Vietnamese refugees.
The artists present: Carl Andre, Benny Andrews, Art Workers' Coalition, Asco, Judith Bernstein, Chris Burden, TC Cannon, Mel Casas, Rosemarie Castoro, Judy Chicago, William Copley, Emile de Antonio, Mark di Suvero, James Gong Fu Dong , Dan Flavin, Terry Fox, Rupert García, Leon Golub, Philip Jones Griffiths, Guerrilla Art Action Group, Philip Guston, Hans Haacke, David Hammons, Wally Hedrick, Douglas Huebler, Carlos Irizzary, Kim Jones, Donald Judd, On Kawara, Corita Kent, Edward Kienholz, Yayoi Kusama, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Fred Lonidier, Malaquias Montoya, Robert Morris, Bruce Nauman, Barnett Newman, Jim Nutt, Claes Oldenburg, Yoko Ono, Dennis Oppenheim, Liliana Porter, Yvonne Rainer, Ad Reinhardt, Faith Ringgold, Martha Rosler, Peter Saul, Carolee Schneemann, Robert Smithson, Nancy Spero, May Stevens, Carol Summers, Paul Thek, Jesse Treviño, Tomi Ungerer, Timothy Washington, and William Weege.
