annshafer.com
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Consulting
  • The Curator's Choice Podcast
  • The Curator's Choice Episodes
  • Platemark Podcast
  • Platemark Episodes
  • HoP episode transcripts
  • News
  • Projects
  • CV
  • About

Musings on Art, Mostly Printmaking

Where politics and drawing intersect: Michael Waugh

8/27/2020

0 Comments

 

Ann Shafer

For the very first time since I left the museum three years ago (today is the anniversary), I am glad I’m not there anymore. The museum sector is going through some real come-to-Jesus moments. I am having a hard time watching from the sidelines and I can only imagine how frustrated I would be as a museum employee with little to no power to address the issues. Museums, by definition, are collections of things. Categorizing and defining objects and identifying the cultures from whence they came, as well as the notion of them as specimens for our study, has me feeling queasy. The whole enterprise has been rightly identified as a colonializing one. This idea isn’t new—I certainly didn’t come up with it—but at this moment, all these factors are colliding, and I am not sure I see a way for museums to come through it. What do you do when they are entirely based on the idea of studying the “other.” Is it possible to change courses to what necessarily has to be a wholly different model? Just what is the blueprint for this shift?
 
I loved working in museums. I did it for nearly thirty years. I’m an object person. I believe art can help us think through difficult concepts as well as give us pleasure. I never wanted to do anything else besides create ways to tell interesting stories through great art. I love works that sit at the intersection of new and old, of abstract representation and representational abstraction, of beauty and toughness.
 
Filed in the ones-that-got-away column is the work of Mike Waugh whose large-scale drawings demand attention. On the surface one sees an image that harkens back to traditional tropes of Americana: eagles, ducks, hounds, horses. One could write them off as illustrative and backward facing; but stay with it. Zoom in and notice each drawn line is really text. (This technique has a name: micrography.) These lines are not just random words selected because their shapes fit the bill, but words that together make up important political manifestos and bureaucratic documents.
 
In a drawing from earlier this year, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, Waugh has written out the text of the 2010 Supreme Court ruling. Hugely controversial, it reversed campaign finance restrictions and enabled corporations and other groups to spend unlimited funds on elections. Reversing the one-hundred-year-old law allows wealthy donors, corporations, and special interest groups to have dramatically expanded influence on campaigns with negative repercussions for American democracy and the fight against political corruption. In Waugh’s image, a pack of hunting dogs are waiting for guidance—the blind leading the blind—while a seagull seated on one hound’s back seems to be anticipating the other shoe dropping.
 
For Redacted, 2019, Waugh copied over 350 pages of The Mueller Report. It took months of meditative labor to accomplish the work (which is huge for a drawing at some 6 x 6 feet). A nest of baby birds with mouths agape are innocently stuck in the nest until they gain maturity. For the moment they are just waiting to be fed and hoping for the best. Wasps swarm above them menacingly. While the Mueller Report laid out definitive evidence of corruption and criminal activity within the 2016 Trump election campaign, the populace is unable to take really meaningful action (until November 3, that is).
 
Politically charged content and “traditional” imagery intersect here. The beauty and intricacy of the drawings engages us. Understanding what the text says and represents gives us pause. Artists are always interested in getting people to linger longer over their work, and Waugh’s delicate, massive, impactful drawings richly reward scrutiny.
 
Michael Waugh (American, born 1967)
Citizens United, 2020
Pen and black ink on Mylar
45 x 69 inches (114.3 x 175.3 cm)
Courtesy Von Lintel Gallery
 
Michael Waugh (American, born 1967)
Redacted (The Mueller Report, volume I & II), 2019
Diptych, pen and black ink on Mylar
Overall: 81 x 76 inches (206 x 193 cm.)
Courtesy Von Lintel Gallery
Picture of Mike Waugh's drawing of hounds
Michael Waugh (American, born 1967). Citizens United, 2020. Pen and black ink on Mylar. 45 x 69 inches (114.3 x 175.3 cm). Courtesy Von Lintel Gallery.
Picture of Mike Waugh's drawing of seagull
[DETAIL} Michael Waugh (American, born 1967). Citizens United, 2020. Pen and black ink on Mylar. 45 x 69 inches (114.3 x 175.3 cm). Courtesy Von Lintel Gallery.
Picture of Mike Waugh's drawing of hound and canary
[DETAIL} Michael Waugh (American, born 1967). Citizens United, 2020. Pen and black ink on Mylar. 45 x 69 inches (114.3 x 175.3 cm). Courtesy Von Lintel Gallery.
Picture of Mike Waugh's drawing of hounds
[DETAIL} Michael Waugh (American, born 1967). Citizens United, 2020. Pen and black ink on Mylar. 45 x 69 inches (114.3 x 175.3 cm). Courtesy Von Lintel Gallery.
Picture of Mike Waugh's drawing of baby birds
Michael Waugh (American, born 1967). Redacted (The Mueller Report, volume I & II), 2019. Diptych, pen and black ink on Mylar. Overall: 81 x 76 inches (206 x 193 cm.). Courtesy Von Lintel Gallery.
Picture of Mike Waugh's drawing of baby birds
[DETAIL] Michael Waugh (American, born 1967). Redacted (The Mueller Report, volume I & II), 2019. Diptych, pen and black ink on Mylar. Overall: 81 x 76 inches (206 x 193 cm.). Courtesy Von Lintel Gallery.
Picture of Mike Waugh's drawing of baby birds
[DETAIL] Michael Waugh (American, born 1967). Redacted (The Mueller Report, volume I & II), 2019. Diptych, pen and black ink on Mylar. Overall: 81 x 76 inches (206 x 193 cm.). Courtesy Von Lintel Gallery.
Picture of Mike Waugh's drawing of a wasp
[DETAIL] Michael Waugh (American, born 1967). Redacted (The Mueller Report, volume I & II), 2019. Diptych, pen and black ink on Mylar. Overall: 81 x 76 inches (206 x 193 cm.). Courtesy Von Lintel Gallery.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Ann's art blog

    A small corner of the interwebs to share thoughts on objects I acquired for the Baltimore Museum of Art's collection, research I've done on Stanley William Hayter and Atelier 17,  experiments in intaglio printmaking, and the Baltimore Contemporary Print Fair.

    Archives

    May 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    October 2021
    August 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020

    Categories

    All
    Albrecht Durer
    Alison Saar
    Alternate Realities
    American Modernism
    Amy Cutler
    Amze Emmons
    Andrew Raftery
    An-My Le
    Annalise Gratovich
    Ann Hamilton
    Ann Shafer
    Antoine Masson
    Ants
    Aquatint
    Art
    Art History
    Artist's Books
    Asa Cheffetz
    Astrid Bowlby
    Atelier 17
    Atelier Contrepoint
    Baltimore Museum Of Art
    Baptiste Debombourg
    Bill Thompson
    B.J.O. Nordfeldt
    Carolina Nitsch
    Carrie Mae Weems
    Caspar David Friedrich
    Cassandre
    Catalyst Contemporary
    Charles Demuth
    Charles Gaines
    Charles White
    Chitra Ganesh
    Claude Flight
    Claude Mellan
    Claude Monet
    Clinton Blair King
    Crown Point Press
    CRW Nevinson
    Curator
    Curator's Choice
    Cyril Power
    Damon Arhos
    Damon Davis
    Dario Robleto
    David Avery
    Deb Sokolow
    Denise Tassin
    Derrick Adams
    Desiree Hayter
    Diana Scultori
    Diane Victor
    Diego Velasquez
    Drawing
    Drypoint
    Durer
    Earthworms
    Edgar Allen Poe
    Edouard Manet
    Edward Hopper
    Elisabetta Sirani
    Ellen MacNary
    Engraving
    Enrique Chagoya
    Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
    Etc
    Etching
    Etching Revival
    Evan Lindquist
    Excudit
    Félix Bracquemond
    Felix-Hilaire Buhot
    Fiona Banner
    Force: Upsetting Rape Culture
    Fred Becker
    Full Circle
    Gabor Peterdi
    Gallery Neptune & Brown
    Geertruydt Roghman
    Grosvenor School
    Harry Belafonte
    Hector Saunier
    Hendrick Goltzius
    Horst Janssen
    Intaglio
    Iona Rozeal Brown
    Jacob Hashimoto
    James Barry
    James Siena
    James Stroud
    James Tissot
    Japonisme
    Jed Smalley
    Jim Dine
    John Alexander
    John Baldessari
    John Taylor Arms
    John White Abbott
    Jonathan Novack
    Joscelyn Gardner
    Joseph Hirsch
    Kathe Kollwitz
    Landscape
    Las Meninas
    Leo Katz
    Letterio Calapai
    Lill Tschudi
    Linoleum Cut
    Lithograph
    London
    London Original Print Fair
    Louis Auguste Lepere
    Lovis Corinth
    Ludovic Lepic
    Marchel Duchamp
    Marion MacPhee
    Mark Thomas Gibson
    Martin Lewis
    Martin Mazorra
    Martin Wilner
    Mary Cassatt
    Maurice Sanchez
    Max Beckman
    Max Klinger
    Michael Waugh
    Mixografia
    Monoprint
    Multiples
    Nicola Lopez
    Nicolas Mignard
    Oil
    Oil Painting
    Pace Prints
    Painting
    Parastou Forouhar
    Paul Fusco
    Paulson Fontaine Press
    Peter Blum
    Peter Milton
    Photograph
    Photogravure
    Picturesque
    Piet Mondrian
    Poster
    Press
    Print
    Printmaking
    Rachel Perry
    Raphaelle Peale
    Rashaad Newsome
    Raven Chacon
    Raymond Pettibon
    Reginald Marsh
    Rembrandt
    Richard Diebenkorn
    Richard Long
    Robert Hills
    Roderick Mead
    Romanticism
    Sascha Braunig
    Sculpsit
    Sculpture
    Sebastian Black
    Shahzia Sikander
    Sherrie Levine
    Shu-lin Chen
    Simultaneous Color Printing
    Slavery
    Stanley William Hayter
    Stan Shellabarger
    Steve DiBenedetto
    Sue Fuller
    Susan Harbage Page
    Susan Sheehan Gallery
    Tamarind Institute
    Tandem Press
    Tauba Auerbach
    Terron Sorrells
    The Multiple Store
    The Old Print Shop
    Thomas Thistlewood
    Toshio Sasaki
    Transferware
    Trenton Doyle Hancock
    Trisha Brown
    Tru Ludwig
    Turner
    Ursula Fookes
    Victoria & Albert
    Victoria Burge
    Viscosity
    Vladimir Cybil Charlier
    Walton Ford
    Wangechi Mutu
    Watercolor
    Watercolour
    Werner Drewes
    West Coast Print Fair
    Western Exhibitions
    Whitfield Lovell
    Wildwood Press
    William Kentridge
    William Villalongo
    Wingate Studio
    Woodblock Print
    Woodcut
    Wood Engraving
    Works On Paper
    Yinka Shonibare MBE
    Yukinori Yanagi
    Zilda

    RSS Feed

    GO TO TOP OF PAGE

      Sign up here for alerts.

    Subscribe to Newsletter

What our Platemark listeners are saying

Way up there in the podcast Top Ten, IMHO.  A great series and engaging leaders.
----- M.A.D.

Contact Us

    Subscribe Today!

Submit
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Consulting
  • The Curator's Choice Podcast
  • The Curator's Choice Episodes
  • Platemark Podcast
  • Platemark Episodes
  • HoP episode transcripts
  • News
  • Projects
  • CV
  • About