If Only It Were as Simple as ‘Make Art Not War’

Commerce and Politics Battle for the Hearts and Minds of 21st-Century Artists

“Is it an obligation of the artist to address war in a time of war?”

Artillery editor Tulsa Kinney opened a Zócalo/MOCA discussion in front of an engaged and curious crowd at MOCA Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles with this question. After all, she pointed out, we live in a world of both Jeff Koons (“who makes balloon dogs”) and Thomas Hirschhorn, whose installation Chromatic Fire is currently on display at MOCA and who “finds it is his mission to shove the world’s malaise down our throats.”

Kinney turned first to …

In the 1990s, Los Angeles Was Both Heaven and Hell

Recalling a Decade of Disasters, Political Mobilization, and Great Art

The L.A. Riots. The Northridge Earthquake. The AIDS crisis. Proposition 187. Fires. Mudslides. White flight. Recession and joblessness. The departure of the aerospace industry. The departures of the Rams and …