Few words are used as frequently to describe the current American political landscape as “divisive.” With seemingly endless election cycles, politics has seeped into every aspect of life. The prints and drawings on view in the James E. Duffy Gallery, created from the late 19th to the 21st century, speak to this reality by addressing a range of highly politicized subjects, such as the environment, gender, guns, monuments and symbols, sex, and even freedom itself. In myriad voices, from earnest to wry to combative, the works explore and question the ways in which artists can reflect, challenge, and destabilize the notions of citizenship, democracy, and the American dream.
Everything Is Political in America is on view on the museum’s fourth floor through mid-November.