WARS- Jeremy Deller and America

May 30, 2009 at 10:02 am · Filed under activism, art, environment, fine art, international, NYC, santa cruz, Uncategorized and tagged: art, culture, jeremy deller, land art, sculpture, usa

To follow is a letter I have had no luck sending over to Jeremy…

Hello Jeremy,

I enjoy the work very much and I find our approach and observations , at times, similar with to one another.  One of the main differences being our citizenship; my being American and you British.  Which as an artist is very important to the specifics and context of making work.  You also have three years on me in the sixties but I have no less of a respect and inspiration for the entirety of the counter culture movement and its effect on us now.  

The reason I was prompted to write you is the recent release I received on your project with CreativeTime, The New Museum and others- ‘It Is What It Is’ .  It is perfectly timed and a great reminder for the fast moving American and all the media distractions around the economy which results in less coverage and reminders of the devastating wars going on.  With this said my only question is why you don’t mention the involvement of the UK in this war?  Seeing how you are British I know it is important to you, and I am amazed at your fascination with America but remember the wars wouldn’t have happened without the UK involvement; past, present and future.  I hope this comes to surface more than once with your tour through the US.  I also find it funny that you will not make it to the Bay Area with your project.  What is the intention in this?  Have they already been won over and need no prompted discussions around the current wars?  I also wonder if you have done sufficient research to achieve the understanding that the greatest Middle Eastern populations exist in the Bay Area of California.  

I am looking forward to seeing what kind of bats make it out of this cave.

All the best, Mark

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