A: Is for art and politics

Thursday the personal odyssey of Juan Downey's anthropological research will open at the Nohra Haime Gallery located at 41 East 57th Street. Juan Downey is a pioneer video artist. This Chilean died in 1993 but his video work is an eclectic voyage into political discourse, the history of art, ideas, personal discovery and self-reflection. Downey's extensive body of work that included installations, drawings, and paintings lives on. Being the creator of more than 40 works this compelling series of anecdotes tracks his search for an indigenous cultural identity. Downey looks through the viewfinder of his camera and turns to see his Yanomami guides pointing their weapons at him, acknowledging - seriously or playfully? - his camera as a weapon. In his documentation of the tribe's use of natural psychedelic drugs for healing. In pursuit of the last primitive tribe of the Americas, 'The Abandoned Shabono' focuses on the Amazon Rain Forest. The shabono is the circular communal dwelling built by the Yanomami Indians. The exhibition JUAN DOWNEY: MEDITATION DRAWINGS will be on view through December 1.
Yesterday at Gagosian's Gallery an exhibit opened of a collage by more than fifty artists. Many created works specifically for this occasion. Fit to Print exposes the artist's compulsion to react to the media who delivers information on a daily basis. Illuminating the vast extent to which contemporary international artists share an interest in the media while working within the traditional definition of collage. Picasso and Braque were embraced by the Dada movement as a mode of political critique. Disposable pop culture, global politics, the artists in this exhibition acknowledge the legacy of past by utilizing mass media and incorporating it directly into their work. Picasso's ability to unite formal and political concerns on the eve of World War I resonates in today's moment of global turmoil, and is acknowledged at the onset of the exhibition by the inclusion of a single, rare Picasso, Bottle and Glass, autumn-winter 1912. As one of the first examples of collage ever made, Picasso's simple yet radical gesture of incorporating primary physical objects continues to inspire. Collage also embraces the heightened presence the tabloids have inspired. This is a reflection of a society captivated by the media.

Art is influenced by the turmoil around us. By absorbing it's message we gain an insight into our own lives and that is a F.A.C.T.