I Used Art To Create A Highly-Opinionated History Of 2020–a Year Of Sadness, Madness And Courage
It all began back in March in the first dark days of the pandemic. A friend of mine was losing her mind. To calm her down, I drew two hands with the tagline “Handwashing not Hand Wringing!” and texted it to her. I posted the drawing on social media. People responded. So I made another image. Then another. It seemed that the art I was making struck a chord. I’d taken a hiatus from art for several years to write books and articles and run workshops, but the pandemic was everywhere—out there in the world and inside your head—and ideas for images, cartoons and visual metaphors invaded my mind. We were living through mythological times—illness, death, lockdowns, economic collapse, George Floyd’s murder, mass protests, madness in the White House and a presidential election. And the news? It was toxic—rumors, political pontificating, propaganda, scandals, contradictions and outright lies.
That kind of hysteria is not what people need in troubled times. I got into the daily habit of tuning into a special frequency. It’s the "what-people-need-to-hear" frequency. Depending on what was going on in the world, sometimes it seemed that people needed the comfort of knowing they weren’t alone in their despair. Other times they needed to lighten up and laugh at the absurdity of pandemical life. And on some days to get mad, really mad.
Maybe the best role model for me is Mathew Brady, a phenomenally successful NYC portrait photographer, who was inspired by the drama and violence of the Civil War to pick up his photo studio and move it out to the battlefields, taking thousands of photos of war, survival and death. "I had to go," explained Brady. "A spirit in my feet said 'Go,' and I went."
(Disclaimer: I’m a blue-state progressive, so if you love Trump you may take issue with some of the images in this post)
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April 24: Trump Claims Bleach (?????) Can Cure Covid.
August 19: Trump Admits He’s Holding Up Funding For The Post Office To Discourage Mail-In Voting.
September 18. Rbg? Dead?
September 27: A Message About Our Collective Resilience. 250 Days Since The First Confirmed Case Of Covid In The Us. And We’re Still Standing.
October 2: Trump Tests Positive For Covid!?!?!?!?!?
March 13: The Virus Hits! I Made This Artwork For A Friend Who Was Holed Up At Home, Melting Down From A Virus-Induced Panic Attack.
May 1: One Hundred One Days Since The First Confirmed Case—are We Evolving Into A New Species?
May 8: Science Under Attack. Anthony Fauci Is Accused Of Being Part Of A Hoax To Make Trump Look Bad.
June 1: Trump Uses The Armed Forces And Tear Gas To Clear Our Peaceful Protestors For A Photo Op.
June 5: A New Sheriff In Town? Biden Clinches The Democratic Party’s Nomination For Potus.
Juneteenth: I Was Inspired To Create A New Symbol For The Protest Movement That Incorporated Peace, Love And Resistance.
June 20: In Tulsa, Trump Holds The First Of His Super-Spreader Rallies For His Rabid Fans.
July 4: Happy 4th Of July! (It’s All About Me!)
August 7: 739,000 Anti-Maskers Gather At The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.
August 20: Biden Picks Kamala Harris As His Vp Running Mate.
September 28: We All Wondered, “What The Hell Will Trump Do At The First Debate?”
September 29: Did We Just See What We Thought We Saw In That First Debate?
October 7: Pence The Poodle Serves His Master Well In The Vice Presidential Debate.
October 12: After The Horror Of The First Wave Of Coronavirus In NYC A Second Wave Is Predicted
October 31: Three Days Before The Election... Is Trump’s Time Running Out? Or Will The Hour Glass Be Flipped Over For Another Four Years?
November 4: Refresh! Refresh! Waiting For The Excruciating Slow Results Of The Election—arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania And Georgia—to Come In.
November 10: A Post-Election Fantasy: Can’t We All Get Along?
November 25. Happy Red And Blue Thanksgiving!
January 1, 2021: It’s The Chinese Year Of The Ox— An Auspicious Time For Getting Things Done.
April 4: The Cdc Recommends The Wearing Of Masks
April 30: Over A Million Confirmed Cases Of Covid In The Us. Coronica! Based On Picasso’s Great Painting Guernica.
May 28: As Us Deaths From Covid Hit 100,000 Trump Continues To Claim Coronavirus Will Soon “Disappear.”
May 31: Blm Protesters Hit The Streets. I Was Inspired By Images Of Policemen Kneeling In Solidarity With Protestors.
June 4: I Created This To Represent By The Coming Together Of People, No Matter What Their Race, Creed Or Religion, To Protest Injustice.
June 19: Disease, Death, Police Killings And Protests In The Street. It’s Hard To Get On With Life When You Have No Idea Of What’s Happening Next.
July 4: A More Appropriate Patriotic Slogan?
July 20: Coming Up For Air. After The Dark Days Of A Pandemic In NYC, The Lockdown Will Be Lifted In Phases.
August 12: In The Middle Of A Pandemic, Trump Gives Encouragement To The Confederate-Flag-Waving White-Supremacist Marchers.
November 3: Help Me Make It Through Election Night.
November 7. It’s Official: Trump Loses! 81 Million Votes And Counting
December 1: Life! Even Though We’ve All Lived Through An Insane Year, We Pick Ourselves Up And Continue On.
December 25: Holiday Cheer In A Polarized America.
December 28: 2021 Can’t Get Here Soon Enough
December 31: 2020... The Year Of The Rat... Is It Really, Really, Almost Over?
These are great. I love the color and texture. Some of these would make terrific prints or posters.
Thank you brivid. Much appreciated.
Load More Replies...Thank you Manon — much appreciated
Load More Replies...These are great. I love the color and texture. Some of these would make terrific prints or posters.
Thank you brivid. Much appreciated.
Load More Replies...Thank you Manon — much appreciated
Load More Replies...