3 July 2004
Sophia Canavos
Arnold Mesches' UB Art Gallery exhibit: "FBI Files"
Most of the collaged and painted pieces in Arnold Mesches’ "FBI Files," which are on exhibit at the University at Buffalo Art Gallery through September 13, include pages copied from FBI reports filed on the artist from 1945-1972 with the aid of informants that included lovers, close friends, models, and artists. Obtained by Mesches in 2000 through the Freedom of Information Act, the hundreds of file pages were littered by black marks obscuring text still considered sensitive by the Bureau.
Mesches suspected the FBI when, in 1956, a series of paintings inspired by the trial and execution of accused communist spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were stolen. Most leftists seriously questioned the evidence against the Rosenbergs and the executions became a cause for increased activity and vigilance in the American communist community.
One chilling report page in Mesches’ FOIA files noted his hernia scar, leaving the viewer to imagine the lover who told the agent that she respected the FBI and wanted very much to cooperate with their investigations. Several of the works, naturally, include images of the femme fatale, the sexy killer many men imagine, but few have such solid evidence of!
Many of the pieces in the exhibit contain masked figures, or hooded KKK and other guerilla terrorist groups. The symbolism of grotesque smiling masks and clan hoods hiding the cowards as they spied on Mesches, is perfect.
Recurring Ferris wheels and roller coasters seemed jibes aimed at the meaninglessness of the investigation. They went round and round—and they never got anywhere.
A small piece contains a collaged clipping of a National Guardian article describing Mesches' art, a mural for a union hall and a campaign poster for the Progressive Party, and then goes on to give an account of his firing from the Art Barn School for his successful advocacy in getting another teacher reinstated after being fired for Progressive Party activity.
The image that best speaks for the whole is a large piece on two canvases. On the right is an enlarged painted reproduction of one of the file pages describing three photos taken of Mesches. The line in the document describing how the photos were taken reads: "Necktie Camera." The canvas on the left is a flayed figure with an obscured face. It's a truly painful self-portrait to view and its place in the show, coming after viewing many of the smaller works, has a cumulative impact and enhances all of them.
As art, this exhibit is moving, but as documentary, it's crushing. If the FBI did, in fact, try to silence an incendiary artist, they failed. Trying to silence the artist by destroying his product neglects to account for his voice.
You can't shut this guy up by stealing his paintings. Aren't you glad?
Arnold Mesches' exhibit, "FBI Files," can be viewed at the UB Art Gallery in the Center for the Arts, North Campus, through Sept. 13 The UB Art Gallery's summer hours, effective through Sept. 3, are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The gallery will be closed on July 5 and Sept. 6. Fall hours, which will begin on Sept. 7, are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday
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Copyright 2004 by Buffalo Report, Inc.