All the Eternal Love I Have for the Pumpkins (detail), 2016. Yayoi Kusama (Japanese, b. 1929)
Well, at least, according to John Kasich, Ohio's (R) governor. After visiting the Cleveland Museum of Art and touring Yayoi Kusama's current show, Kasich was taken by the artwork's ability to transcend the political divide by inspiring imagination.
“Nobody who would go through here would say, ‘Well I’m a Republican, and it looked this way.’ And ‘I’m a Democrat,” the governor said. “People hang out here, they might have lunch together, and actually have a few laughs instead of fighting with one another all the time.”
Let's assume Kasich is right, that museums can be a safe space to get away from the chaos and tumult of politics, an idea which I have always believed, we should all be visiting galleries and museums EVERY day! I do feel somewhat deflated that it takes a political figure to bring attention to this very obvious, at least among artists, gallerists, and museums, the fact; we need beauty, we need art.
“Nobody who would go through here would say, ‘Well I’m a Republican, and it looked this way.’ And ‘I’m a Democrat,” the governor said. “People hang out here, they might have lunch together, and actually have a few laughs instead of fighting with one another all the time.”
Let's assume Kasich is right, that museums can be a safe space to get away from the chaos and tumult of politics, an idea which I have always believed, we should all be visiting galleries and museums EVERY day! I do feel somewhat deflated that it takes a political figure to bring attention to this very obvious, at least among artists, gallerists, and museums, the fact; we need beauty, we need art.