The ALNB Artists of Color Show 2 Aftermath

In my first essay on this show I questioned the legitimacy of the conceptual basis for this show.
In the second installment I looked at the art and artists.

In this essay, let's unpack whether or not this kind of curation accomplishes what the show claims it does.

Are the Artists Underrepresented?

The best that can be said about this claim is that a few of the artists exhibiting may be new (and just starting) to the Art League of New Britain (ALNB). But many - those holding and exposing the most mature body of work are well known veterans of the Central Connecticut gallery ecosystem. They show and get accepted regularly to the shows they enter. The idea that they are "erased", "invisible", or otherwise marginalized is the by-product of the ineffective politics of the hegemony of exclusively Democratic governance. Non-white voters are conditioned to feel oppressed and they are trained, like Pavlov's Dogs,  to pull a single party lever come election time.

As a storied art gallery that is part of the Central CT Arts ecosystem, the ALNB could care less about the identity politics of anybody who pays their money, enters a show, and has anything they claim to be art that isn't a rancid fraud - You'e In! Now that may come as a huge disappointment to race baiters and hustlers who can and do make a pretty penny on selling reverse bigotry as a hot commodity. 

But the broader truth of the matter is that all Connecticut artists (tho there are exceptions in the rich New York suburbs and country hideaways) very much are poorly represented, undervalued, and systemically ignored both in exposure and grants funding. For decades and decades I've followed and documented (to the degree that I can) the obscene mistreatment of artists who pay taxes and live in Connecticut and get jack-shit representation from larger arts organizations, government funding operations, and State programs. An audit of all of these organizations is LONG overdue but they are protected by the immutable jackboot of Democratic thugs running the State.

The Art profession has been under assault for almost a half-century with agit-political groups feasting like termites at the foundations of local arts groups. These groups are weak and often imprinted with victim mentalities and sympathies that wholly distort their purpose. 

What this show illustrates is that there is no single cultural cohort of people who constitute a coherent set of historical victims, shared common aesthetic consensus, or long term commitment to sustaining and nurturing a more so-called "equitable" arts scene.

This is the first show I have ever attended at the ALNB that has empty wall space. Wall space is everything to artists. Wasting it is an organizational sin. But it also exposes the weakness of the premise of the show's pretense. The color of any artist's skin has nothing to do with the stuff in the gallery or with the idea that there is a volume of work that is being suppressed.

Is There a Hidden Culture Out There?

Well, there may be but does that culture have an artistic veracity to its existence? Galleries like the ALNB are better equipped to organize art shows that might split up the multiple gallery spaces. Why not dedicate a gallery to modern American Urban art regardless of who contributes work? Why not one dedicated to suburbia? Or the Polish influence - Italian - Puerto Rican, and so on?

The idea that artists should be divided by bigotry based criteria is a disservice to all of us. If there is a demographic that represents who we are its called "Talented Individuals". And the individuals who show up are the only ones that matter because the rest of the world doesn't give a shitt about any of us.

Does the Show Succeed

Both of these shows have had some really fine art exhibited and have been well judged respectively.

Both have failed in their socio-political promises. While they do filter by skin color, skin color is a lousy way to describe the Connecticut Arts scene or any Arts scene for that matter. Most of the artists in these shows were far more vanilla American citizens than representatives of the their neighborhood vibe. Artists don't roll that way - well, some do but the by-product is more propaganda than art.

The answer to improving participation in all art shows is *Participate MORE* - that's it. Show up, be there.

And if you have a victim narrative - talk about it. But if you do don't be surprised if the person next to you doesn't say, "Hold my glass of wine." and bends your ear with their own.