Volume 08 Issue 01 of ART PAPERS features a rare profile of painter LeRoy Neiman, and the cover proudly depicts one of his paintings titled "Sandy Koufax striking out Mickey Mantle, 1st game, 1963." The painting, as well as the profile, are a fitting umbrella for an issue that deals with the flashy, American sense of arts and entertainment, and the elements of a superstar-driven landscape that occasionally thrives on "bad taste." Though the Neiman profile praises the artist's knowledge of his audience (male, aggressive, driven, rugged individuals, anti-Russian), an essay by Dick Higgins condemns the same audience as child-like, hardly capable of a seat at the table next to their European counterparts who are required to take Art History courses in high school and can "discuss cogent ideas cogently." The issue's thematic flip-side looks at art as activism, art as rebellion against the institutions that be. Interviews include Beverly Buchanan, who'd recently completed a set of sculptures focused on ritual, and photographer Jim Frazer who discussed how "it became important for [him] to make art that was not so elite." Reviews included The Mattress Factory Show, as well as work by Marcel Duchamp from the Ringling Museum Collection. This issue is currently out of stock. For more information, please contact [email protected]
