Art has a very inconstant relationship with politics – ask an artist if they want to make a political statement and they are likely to bristle. Yet, look beneath the surface of any interesting piece, and you’ll almost certainly find definite connections to larger social structures and conversations that are in fact very, very political.
Scanning the offerings of Art Basel Miami Beach this week, one finds much art that is political in precisely this way – not so much so on the tip of the iceberg, but very much in the intellectual and artistic inspiration beneath. Take, for instance, the gorgeous bronze floral mask exhibited by the mixed media artist Allison Janae Hamilton – at first it comes off as a stunningly beautiful piece of layered flower blooms, but look deeper into the origins of this piece and a different story surfaces.
