The Four Most Outstanding Moments of Glenn Beck's Crusading Art Criticism:
1. The Great Christmas Ornament-Gate of '09, and '11
Beck used his formal analysis skills to uncover a shocking fact: an ornament on the official White House Christmas tree actually contained a coded admission of President Obama's communist sympathies....
2. The Washington Monument, the Great Symbol of Race Relations
At August's massive "Restoring Honor" rally in Washington, Glenn Beck revealed himself to be not only a canny art critic, but also something of an architectural historian....
3. The Great NEA Propaganda Controversy
In 2009, Beck became one of the central whistleblowers in what he dubbed the "NEA propaganda controversy," a campaign attacking the NEA for its alleged clandestine political activism....
4. Rockefeller Center, Site of Great Communist Propaganda
Beck's attack of the murals at Rockefeller Center is perhaps his best-known foray into art criticism....
Read the article by Julia Halperin of ArtInfo for more details: http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/37459/the-four-most-outstanding-moments-of-glenn-becks-crusading-art-criticism/?page=1
Replies
Beck is a political commentator, and those who dislike him try to twist what he says.
1- The Christmas Tree ornamant in the Personal residence had a ball with Mao's picture on it. No "reference", but a Christmas ornament with Chairman Mao. A man who killed 29 million Chinese people.
2- The Restoring Honor rally was about restoring honor in America, with some comedy thrown in, that's all.
3- When the NEA starts recommending the book "Rules For Radicals" by Cloward and Piven, then yes, I would have to agree with Beck. And the California NEA has thrown it's support behind convicted Philadelphia cop killer Mumia Jamal calling him a "journalist". He murdered a policeman in cold blood.
4- And when I see the hammer and sickle on the reliefs at Rockefeller Plaza I wonder too.
Look, you may or may not agree with Beck, and that's fine. All I know was he predicted this economic disaster back when he was with CNN. He acurately predicted the Middle East going through the current radical changes.
This is what's great about America. There are commentators on the right like Beck, Hannity and Limbaugh. And if you don't like them, nobody is forcing you to listen to or watch them. There are also commentators on the left, like Olberman, Ed Schultz or Rachael Maddow. And if you disagree with them, nobody's forcing you to watch or listen to them either. It's called freedom. Freedom to change the channel.
I am fully aware I am in a small minority here in my political beliefs. I am a Libertarian. I completely agree with Thomas Jefferson when he wrote "A government that governs best, is one that governs least".
I agree with your right to espouse free speech, but I can't help but wonder if you read the Julia Halperin article that Connie attached to her comment? It would explain much of what you accept as the veracity of Beck's comments. #4 During the Depression and most of World War II, Communist Russia was our ally, so communist symbols do crop up in public art from that time. To expunge any art symbols just because they are currently out of favor smacks of what the communists specialize in - continually rewriting history to fit their immediate propaganda needs.
That being said, any juror during the jury process has to keep his/her opinion to themselves until what is usually the final round, in which the jurors can give their opinions about a particular submission. And, as we all suspect, not all jurors are art-knowledgeable, especially in fields outside of their own. So, Mr. Beck, if he were invited to jury a show, would be just as acceptable as any one else, if they were to have any sort of art credentials at all.
When using quotes, it is best to get it word for word accurate, because small changes can take the whole quotation out of context. Thomas Jefferson, the father of the Democratic Republican Party and the President in 1800 said, "That government is best which governs the least, because its people discipline themselves." The above misquote by C. Hoyt has been used by Paul Rand and others and it's implication is on bettering government actions rather than creating a better government. Splitting hairs? A significant difference in phrasing and meaning, otherwise why change the quotation except for self-serving purposes.
The learned Americans of the late 18th-early 19th century followed a Deist doctrine, had amazingly educated backgrounds and were very particular in the use of diction and of the written word. These Fathers of our country also assumed that all people would be careful and thoughtful in their use of self-discipline; that inflammatory rhetoric had no place except in defense of the country but not in the establishment of sound government policies and practices.
They also had a great fear of an unbridled Judiciary, because the judicial system in England tended to create and mandate laws based on whim and happenstance. That is one of the chief reasons we have to maintain a balance of power between the Executive, Judicial and Congressional branches.
I like Beck (sometimes) but yes, he would make a good juror and/or judge, because he has People! If he is unclear about a particular art piece, he has people to tell him How it was made so that he could make the right decision. Also, I would hope "his people" would remind him that this is not a place to play politics...it's a business.
In my opinion, understanding the process of how art is made should be at least half of a juror's resume. They have to understand what makes a good abstract, the difference between oil, gouache or watercolors, throwing vs. hand building, fabricating jewelry or casting sculpted jewelry, etc etc etc...
To me, when a judge picks up my work and looks at the back, he/she is a good judge. This tells me they already know what they are looking at from the front but they know even more to look at the back.
...my 2 cents.Larry Berman
http://BermanGraphics.com
412-401-8100