cover image Whose Art Is It - CL

Whose Art Is It - CL

Jane Kramer, Jane Kramer. Duke University Press, $64.95 (144pp) ISBN 978-0-8223-1535-3

The tension among artist, art and patron is one of the enduring subjects of modern culture. Whether the patron is pope, millionaire or modern community center, the artist working in an arena not bounded by personal conscience faces vexing questions about the relationship between artist and the larger society. Patrons, too, face vexing questions: Am I buying a commodity for my personal (or community) pleasure, or am I to put up with whatever springs from the artist's imagination? Kramer (Europeans, Unsettling Europe), addresses these issues in an essay about Bronx-based artist John Ahearn that originally appeared in The New Yorker. The artist received a 1991 commission to place three sculptures in front of a local police precinct-house in the nation's poorest congressional district. Kramer thoughtfully tells the complex story of this white artist in a black and Latino community and how that environment informs Ahearn's artistic vision. When that vision runs into strident criticism from African American and Latino residents and bureaucrats, Ahearn decides to dismantle the sculpture. Kramer lets all the relevant voices in this saga speak their piece, emerging with a tale of the conflicts and confusions attendant to the construction of a multicultural society. Illustrations not seen by PW. (Nov.)