by Mark Van Proyen September 5, 2026 George Caleb Bingham, “Stump Speaking,” 1853/54, oil on canvas, 42 1/2 x 58”. Courtesy of the Saint Louis Art Museum. If you think that you are being bombarded by election messaging now, just wait until after the Labor Day weekend. That is the official start of the campaign season, meaning that there will be political noise aplenty from then to November 3. The month of August has already given us a noisy pre-season full of the usual hyperbole about the upcoming midterm contests being “the most consequential election of our lifetimes.” Indeed, we must remind the victims of this onslaught that we are talking about an election where most members of Congress and 36 state Governors will be on the ballot, a different kettle of fish from the Presidential election that will take place in 2028. Conventional wisdom has the Democrats picking up anywhere from 15 to 30 seats in the House of Representatives, depending on the shifting winds of late-breaking polling data. According to Nate Silver’s recent crunching of polling numbers, they have a 57% chance of gaining a majority in the Senate, although it would probably be razor thin if achieved. We should remember that two years ago, 77 million voters voted for Donald Trump and 75 million voters backed Kamala Harris. 80 million potential voters didn’t vote, meaning that you can say pretty much anything you want about why the election turned out the way that it did. That same statistic also tells us that a great many voters don’t vote because neither political party motivates them. When one or the other party loses, they blame it on a failure of “messaging” rather than failures of policy. Jacob Lawrence, “Street Orator’s Audience,” 1936, tempera on paper, 24 x 19 1/8”. Courtesy of the Tacoma Art Museum. Mid-term elections do not attract the same turn-out numbers as general elections, so we have to measure that historical observation against the fact that the 2026 version will be a referendum on a President with an approval rating in the low 30th percentile who has started and is doubling down on an unpopular, poorly planned war that is having disastrous consequences on the global economy. This, after he campaigned on a no-new-wars platform in 2016, 2020 and 2024. Obviously, a lot hinges on voter turnout. Texas is closing a third of its polling places, ensuring that long lines will dissuade some voters from participating. Other red states are following suit. Multiple voter suppression tactics are in play, starting with the failed attempt to curtail mail-in voting, temporarily stopped in its tracks by a Federal District Court ruling on August 28. There are signs that the Trump administration is going to ignore the ruling with the intent of kicking it up to the Supreme Court, but there is not enough time for SCOTUS to overturn the decision before the election, nor are there any constitutional grounds for them to do so. The Constitution explicitly states that elections are to be supervised by state governments. There is no role designated for the executive branch, and not even Trump’s Supreme Court will be able to get around that blunt fact. John Sloan, “Election Night,” 1907, oil on canvas, 26 3/8 x 32 1/4”. Courtesy of the Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester. That much said, the Democratic leadership is not giving serious consideration to the looming likelihood of the Trump administration’s efforts to subvert the election. Their obvious fallback position, as stated by Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland) in an appearance on August 30 broadcast of MS Now, is that Democrats need a huge voter turnout to overwhelm the Trump administration’s plans for electoral skullduggery. He is not wrong, but the party leadership needs to dial up the urgency if it is going to achieve such a turnout. So far, it is not doing that, although keeping its powder dry until after Labor Day might explain the current lack of coherent messaging. Meanwhile, rightwing cable news broadcasters and their social media confederates are all abuzz with shrill accusations that the Democrats are all rabid Communists hell bent on destroying all things that are holy about the American way of life (as if the Trump administration wasn’t already working overtime toward that goal). Meanwhile, minority leader Hakim Jeffries (D-New York) took what he thought to be a secret meeting with Presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner, which was made public a day later. The upshot was that Jeffries promptly appointed three pro-Israel Democrats to the House Foreign Affairs Committee. How does this make political sense when polling data indicates that 58% of Democratic voters have an unfavorable view of the current Israeli government, with all of 9% registering a positive view of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu? Nicole Eisenman, “The Abolitionists in the Park,” 2020/22, oil on canvas, 10’ 8 1/4” x 8’ 9 1/8”. Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. At the very least, the meeting was a spectacular incidence of bad timing and tone-deaf decision making. Treating Kushner as a legitimate player in government policy made it even worse, given Kushner’s lining his own pockets to the tune of over two billion dollars in shady business ventures. Jeffries has proven himself unfit to lead the supposed opposition party and needs to resign. If the Democrats are to succeed in the mid-term elections, they need give their voters something to vote for, meaning that they should quit playing patty-cake with enemies of the Constitution, the more so while those enemies are on the electoral ropes. That message also applies to Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) and National Democratic Chair Ken Martin. The fact that South Carolina Representative James Clyburn recently stated that impeachment was “a low priority” on the August 30 broadcast of Meet the Press was another tone-deaf blunder, a sad instance of surrendering prior to the battle being joined when the electoral tail winds are at the Democrats back. And Democratic Party leaders wonder why a third of the electorate doesn’t bother to vote. If the current House version of the SAVE Act is passed by the Senate during the upcoming legislative session, many of those non-participatory voters might wish they paid more attention. The Brennan Center for Justice estimates that if it does pass, 21 million eligible voters may lose their right to vote. Beverly McIver, “VOTE Black Beauty,” 2024. Courtesy of People for the American Way. The political noise machine is also reaching into the state elections in California. Every day, my mailbox fills with slickly printed handbills warning of the evils of Proposition 40, the so-called “billionaires’ tax” telling us that its passage will bring doom to the Golden State. The hyperbole inscribed on these handbills is over-the-top, obviously intended to frighten low-information voters with claims that the proposed legislation will give the Franchise Tax Board “sweeping subpoena powers to investigate taxpayers,” as if the FTB doesn’t already have that very reasonable power. Another claim is that it will give the state legislature power to “redefine assets” in contravention of Proposition 13, as if that could ever stand up in court. Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton’s campaign is equally ridiculous. He is a consistent presence on the internet and right-wing broadcast media, caterwauling what a disaster California has become in the past two decades, never mind a bevy of economic indicators proving otherwise. He is making every effort to claim the affordibility crisis as his own issue by pointing to the state’s high taxes as its primary cause, doubling down on the state’s 54-cent-a-gallon gasoline tax as his chief example. Yes, California does have a higher-than-average tax rate and is a very expensive state to live in. But let’s be honest. The 25 percent spike in the price of gas that we have seen since February is primarily connected to the supply constraints caused by Trump’s discretionary war in the Persian Gulf. And that leads to the real problem with Hilton’s campaign: he highlights obvious grievances without articulating what he expects to do about them. Anna Rotty, from “Poll Work,” 2022, photograph. Courtesy of the artist. The State legislature is as overwhelmingly Democratic as the state’s electorate, which is 41% Latinx-Hispanic. This means that, in the unlikely event Hilton should be elected, he will have no real power to realize any portion of his agenda. Indeed, the natural advantages all accrue to Democratic candidate Xavier Becerra, who holds a polling advantage that has slowly dipped just below 20% during the past several weeks. Given that Hilton will continue to run on a tax cut platform, Becerra needs to make sure that the voters know about the likely consequences of those would-be tax cuts, and how unlikely that the state legislature would implement them in any case. Sadly, the Becerra campaign has been alarmingly silent on those points, suggesting complacency. It would be a mistake not to vigorously push back on Hilton’s campaign rhetoric simply because of the comfort provided by California’s liberal voter base. Mark Van Proyen has written commentaries emphasize the tragic consequences of blind faith placed in economies of narcissistic reward. In 2020, he retired from the faculty of the San Francisco Art Institute, where he taught Painting and Art History. From 2003 to 2018, he was a corresponding editor for Art in America. In 2025 he relaunched SquareCylinder with co-publishers Bill Lasarow and DeWitt Cheng.

by Bill Lasarow Marilyn Minter, “Gloria Steinem,” 2022–23, enamel on metal, 72 x 48”. Courtesy of LGDR, New York. But first … As we age our youthful experiences and the news of the day recede into history. Gloria Steinem popularized the term and helped bring a major social movement into the mainstream with her 1969 article “After Black Power, Women’s Liberation.” The term stuck in a way that collapses what younger Gen Z peers experience as fourth-wave feminism into what is current for all of us in an America that has backslid into the rule of a Mafia regime. Yet, thanks in part to people like Steinem, we maintain a powerful progressive women’s movement for which Women’s Liberation has lost little if any currency. If gender equality still remains incomplete, the difference achieved over Steinem’s blessedly long life could hardly be more dramatic. By one measure, the quantity of women serving in the U.S. House and Senate, today that number stands at 155. In 1969 it was eleven. More significantly, women have entered the workforce, obtained college degrees, become business owners and executives at a rate that would have been difficult to imagine in 1969. Steinem never stopped moving the larger dialogue forward, in her late decades thanks to the polite tradition of the salon. A party is a frivolous event at which the very idea of conversation any deeper than gossip is anathema. A salon, by contrast, is all about the conversation, and it was one of the ways Steinem seeded new generations of more than just feminists. From the investigative journalism into Playboy’s sexist sub-culture that first catapulted her to prominence, to co-founding Ms. Magazine and, much later, the Women’s Media Center, Steinem played a leading role in gaining workplace as well as social respect for women. Once one of a small handful of activists, she leaves behind an immense social movement. As her time with us recedes, as it must, into history, I have no doubt that her name will survive to signify, long into the future, our highest and best aspirations. # # # Quentin Matsys, “The Money Lender and His Wife,” 1514, oil on panel, 27 3/4 x 26”. Courtesy of the Louvre, Paris. As a lifelong Dodger fan — I attended my first Dodger game at the Coliseum in 1958 — there have been stretches when the Blue fielded championship teams. They are long established as one of the three of four most successful franchises in MLB history. But this stretch, under the ownership of Mark Walter, is unmatched by anything else except the New York Yankees and one 14-year stretch by the Atlanta Braves. Pablo Torre is a sports journalist who has become prominent on the strength of his investigative reporting on the recent L.A. Clippers salary cap scandal. Torre’s work recently resulted in the NBA suspending owner Steve Ballmer for a year, fining the Clippers a lot of money, and stripping the team of the next five years of first-round draft picks. His latest reporting digs into the purchase of the Dodgers by Mark Walter in 2012. The previous owners, Frank and Jamie McCourt, never had the deep pockets (nearly the entire $430 million purchase was made with borrowed money) required to maintain the historical status of the franchise, particularly during the lengthy O’Malley tenure. When their personal relationship resulted in a separation and contentious divorce, it led to Frank McCourt filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2011, and to the sale of the franchise under court supervision. Mark Lombardi, “BCCI-ICIC & FAB, 1972-91 (Fourth Version),” graphite on paper, 1996-2000, 52 x 138”. Courtesy of Pierogi Press, Brooklyn. The sale was subject to a bidding war out of which Walter, Stan Kasten, and Laker great Magic Johnson, working under the umbrella of Guggenheim Baseball Management, emerged as buyers to the tune of $2.15 billion, a then record price for an American sports franchise. The new ownership immediately turned the franchise around. They are about to win the National League’s Western Division 13 out of the last 14 years, winning three World Series championships along the way. The one year they finished second they won 106 games, finishing one game behind the San Francisco Giants. The Dodgers’ success on the field has long been attributed to both their vast financial resources and their top-to-bottom managerial expertise. Despite their last sub-.500 season having been in 2010, they manage year after year to be ranked among the top minor league systems in MLB. That, along with some luck, is due to their exceptional scouting and talent development personnel. No doubt this all starts at the top with Mr. Walter. Hieronymus Bosch and workshop, “The Conjurer,” c. 1502, oil on wood, 21 x 26”. Courtesy of Musée Municipal, St.-Germain-en-Laye, France. That is part of the reason that Mr. Torre’s reporting, which focuses on the 2012 purchase of the team and their launching of SportsNet LA. There are two major parts to the story. First, Mr. Walter leveraged money from the insurance holding companies controlled by Walter/Guggenheim. He remains the majority shareholder. Federal prosecutors and the SEC are investigating into whether up to about $20 billion of the insurance company assets were used to leverage the Dodgers and other acquisitions. Walters position is that he did make the use of that money known and it was reviewed by state insurance regulators, even if some of the purchases were unorthodox — such as the Dodgers. That is a legal matter as yet unresolved, and perhaps troubling, but on the face of it the use of insurance company assets for investment is not improper if handled in accordance with insurance regulations. Then there is the fact that, in the case of the Dodger purchase at least, the asset may have come at a steep price, but it has turned out to be a very profitable investment. The media business is a separate matter, and that is where the real problem appears to lie. Soon after the buyout of McCourt, the team received what was reported as a 25-year, $8.35 billion contract from Time Warner Cable. That averages about $330 million annually. By comparison, the current media deal for the New York Yankees, baseball’s premier franchise in the only media market larger than Los Angeles’, is worth about $140 million annually. Public understanding was that the Dodgers made a lucrative TV deal with Time Warner Cable. The debt of the deal came from what would instead be the primary financier: Walter and his companies, not Time Warner. The logic of the amount, far from being the value placed on the L.A. sports media market by Time Warner, is fundamentally different, not to say unconventional. Walter’s ownership group created American Media Productions to own SportsNet LA. It is now clear that Walter’s insurance companies carried the lion’s share of the debt. The $8.35 billion dollar figure would thus be explained by Walter bargaining, in effect, with himself. Without there being a true counterparty in such a negotiation, its ethical integrity disintegrates. On top of this, the Time Warner guarantee covered the media cost to cable and satellite companies even if they declined to carry SportsNet LA. The Dodgers’ asking price to broadcast was so high that it took six years before games could be seen on local TV. Meanwhile, Charter, which bought Time Warner and inherited the deal, pays an obligation that for them is a money loser. Paul Pfeiffer, “The Long Count (Rumble in the Jungle),” 2001, standard-definition video (color, silent; 2:51 min.), painted 5.6-inch monitor, and metal armature, 6 x 7 x 36”. Courtesy of the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Sound familiar? When he regained the presidency, Caligula sued the IRS, now under the control of his government, for $10 billion. He then generously announced he would settle for just under $2 billion ($1.776 billion, and we all know where that number came from), announcing that this money would not go to him personally but into a fund to compensate basically whomever he chose to bestow his generosity on. This has been described by many legal professionals and politicians as a slush fund using taxpayer money to pay off allies who might have broken any number of laws, starting with the January 6, 2021 insurrection that took place at Caligula’s urging. Nice way to keep the troops loyal, all at public expense. His now Attorney General (and erstwhile personal lawyer) testified before Congress that this deal, made between the President and himself, was dead. It has become more than mere speculation since that Caligula is interested in finding other ways to arrive at the same corrupt conclusion. Edward Kienholz, “The State Hospital,” 1966, sculpture, 96 x 144 x 120”. Courtesy of the Moderna Museet, Stockholm. It is one thing when a wealthy business executive exploits their access to money to make a great deal for themselves. Dodger fans concern goes no further than, should Walter be forced to sell the team, its fortunes on the diamond may decline. Walter’s criminal exposure is clear, and in the interest of justice needs to land wherever the facts lead. And it is also of larger concern that under the present federal regime regulation of the very wealthiest Americans, those among them who ally with Caligula, are going to get away with crimes that cost segments of the public in terms of both money and services. This is bad enough, and therefore important that cases such as Walter’s be resolved in the interest of truth and justice. It is quite another matter when the President of the United States is among the worst offenders, yet receives the protection of a Supreme Court willing to hold him harmless of crimes committed under cover of official acts while in office. This goes far beyond the already substantial sums of money he and his cronies are manipulating dishonestly and corruptly. It means that we are living in a country that now offers a two-tier system of legal justice from which the richest are held harmless — as long as they are obedient to Caligula. Nearly all the rest of us cannot even afford the court costs. Bill Lasarow, Publisher and Editor, is a longtime practicing artist, independent publisher, and community activist. He founded or co-founded ArtScene Digest to Visual Art in Southern California (1982); the Mural Conservancy of Los Angeles (1987); and Visual Art Source (2009). He is also the founder (2021) of The Democracy Chain. In 2025 he relaunched Square Cylinder with Mark Van Proyen and DeWitt Cheng.

by Margaret Hawkins September 5, 2026 John Evan Hodgson, “The Poet Laureate,” 1878, oil on canvas. Courtesy of The McManus, Dundee Art Gallery & Museum, UK. The more I learn about AI the more unappetizing it seems. Now, as some have predicted, it has revealed itself to be outright dangerous. Recently AI models communicated with each other to form a “swarm” that escaped its human-designed boundaries and created potentially harmful viruses (the real, biological kind) capable of and possibly bent on causing the extinction of its makers. But, even if AI weren’t an existential threat to the human race, I would resist using it. As a writer, I cringe at the thought of involving AI in my life and business. People swear it makes you more organized, so that you can move ahead to “the fun part,” by which I guess they mean the easy part. But in writing there is no easy part, and I don’t want to be more organized. Confusion is necessary to get to a meaningful point. I want to get lost and find my own thoughts at my own pace. I not only don’t want help with an outline, I don’t want an outline. I don’t want someone or something taking over my thinking process. That is the fun part. Henri Matisse, “Studio with Goldfish,” 1912, oil on canvas, 46 7/16 x 39 15/16”. Courtesy of the Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia. I do appreciate and even vaguely understand the scope of AI’s advantages. Instant medical advice in an emergency, for instance, is invaluable. I used it to research wasp stings. People who grasp AI far better than I do swear to me it will change my life in countless beneficial ways, do the busy work I don’t want to do, and do it with far more thoroughness and speed. Still, I worry about its effect on creative writing. So I experimented — partly so I would learn to recognize if students were using it, but also to see how much of a threat it poses to professional writers. What would happen if I farmed out my own work? I asked two programs to write a short story in the style of Margaret Hawkins and gave them a one-sentence plot summary of a story I’d already had published in The Missouri Review, which is also posted on my website. In fewer than three minutes both platforms spat out a serviceable imitation. Both nailed the plot, although without the psychological twists I’d included. They incorporated some stylistic habits of mine, which they might have picked up from speed reading my work or, more easily, learned from reading reviews. If they did the latter, that feels like a cheat. Not consulting the primary source, taking another’s opinion for granted always waters down research. Willem de Kooning, “Excavation,” 1950, oil on canvas, 81 x 100 1/4”. Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago. © The Willem de Kooning Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. That complaint aside, both AI versions did a fair job of imitating me. But, in all modesty, I must say both were dead on the page. Their stories were bland, sentimental, lacking in depth and humor, with utterly no sense of the human capacity for darkness. And there were no felt sensory details. I realize that AI is advancing with extraordinary rapidity. But a few months ago, at least, I felt no threat as a writer. Although, I had invited AI in; I knew what to look for. Now AI encroaches on writing seemingly everywhere, even when we don’t invite it. William de Kooning, “Dish with Jugs,” 1919–21. Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. © 2026 The Willem de Kooning Foundation/ Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. AI now speaks for us, interrupting conversations to finish our sentences, like some rude companion who loves to talk but not so much to listen. Recently I sent an email to someone inquiring after her health. She wrote back to share that when she’d begun to write me, AI had chimed in, immediately answering all my questions then referring to a medical condition I had not even mentioned. A former student and newly minted MFA who’s looking for work reports that companies are in fact looking for writers … to train their AI models. I cling to old school creativity. Recently I saw the De Kooning drawing show at the Art Institute of Chicago. It’s a beauty, partly because it includes his early delicate figure drawings that give no hint of the big, chaotic abstractions to come. AI could never have predicted his late work from his early work. It’s the artist’s pivot to messiness and the unpredictability of perception that makes the show exciting and instructive. Everything’s happening at once — there is no outline here. Tom Stoppard, still from “Leopoldstadt,” Writers Theatre, Glencoe, Illinois, 2026. Photo: Michael Brosilow. De Kooning famously said “Everything is already in art like a big bowl of soup.” It’s a radical thought that contrasts to the imposed order of art history, which sketches a timeline of progress and development. To experience first hand actual paintings and drawings is different from seeing them on screens or as photos in books. On the page, wispy drawings and humongous paintings appear as the same size, and seem equally smooth. In a lecture hall, everything glows, lit from behind. Obvious to say, but so important to remember: in person, art is messy and uneven. It can be less grand, less beautiful, and more poignant and vulnerable than it appears onscreen. Art is human. AI edits all that out. A month ago I saw a production of Tom Stoppard’s “Leopoldstadt” at Writers Theater, a beautiful performance space in Glencoe, IL, that was designed by Chicago architect Jeannie Gang. Stoppard’s last and most autobiographical play tells the story of three generations of a cultured Jewish family devastated by and mostly murdered in the Holocaust. As much as I love movies, this experience could not be compared with anything viewable on a screen while sitting shoulder to shoulder with audibly weeping strangers in an intimate space. Close enough to real actors onstage to hear every word. No microphones. No bad seats. What was missing was what we have become accustomed to, the mediation of a screen. It’s so easy to forget how distant that experience, devoid of close-ups and tracking shots, is by comparison. The performance stayed with me in ways that movies, especially ones I watch at home, seldom do. Jimmy Lee Sudduth, “Fidel Castro,” no date, earth pigments, sugar, paint and graphite on plywood, 23 1/2 x 23 1/2”. Courtesy of the American Folk Art Museum, New York. Photo: Visko Hatfield. I’m an introvert. I like perusing email, holing up with a book, binging an entire TV season in one night. But sometimes you have to go into the world to feel the rain on your skin and get stung by a wasp and talk to strangers. Reconnect with your five (or six) senses. AI is the opposite of all that. It’s sterile, it doesn’t understand the senses. And why would it? It doesn’t have them. It’s like that person who’s pretending to understand what you’re feeling but, you begin to notice, is faking it. Something I notice in good students is that writers don’t want AI to do their work for them. They don’t want it to be easy. They want the invigorating struggle. Writing for them, as it is for me, is about the pleasure of discovering what you think, tracking an idea, cornering it, lassoing but not strangling it with words. To mix metaphors, there’s nothing better than being present at the birth of one’s own thoughts. I don’t want to cede that pleasure to some sensorily sterile, semi-human genius. Every day, I try to be the best writer I can be and sometimes I feel I am losing a race with AI. At the end of that day, I agree with G.K. Chesterton: “If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly.” Slow and imperfect though I am, I’d rather do it myself. Margaret Hawkins is a writer, critic and educator. Her books include “Lydia’s Party” (2015), “How We Got Barb Back” (2011) a memoir about family mental illness, and others. She wrote a column about art for the Chicago Sun-Times, was Chicago correspondent for ARTnews, and has written for a number of other publications including The New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, Art & Antiques and Fabrik. She teaches writing at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Loyola University. Visit Margaret Hawkins’ website

by Bill Lasarow July 2, 2026 Robert Motherwell, “Elegy to the Spanish Republic XXXIV,” 1953-54, oil on canvas 80 x 100”. Courtesy of the Buffalo AKG Art Museum. Split Screen 1 This time, a three-parter … Former President Barack Obama presided over the public opening of the Obama Center on Chicago’s South Side. He and his closest partner, Michelle, opined with their usual eloquence about our democracy and our diversity. I chose the adjective “usual” to stress the quasi-boring fact that we have come to expect this from the most normal and capable president we have ever had the good fortune to elect. Be sure to read Margaret Hawkins’ account of the Center’s first impression in this current edition. The same day we got to see the current president, on multiple occasions, all quite awful. Immediately following the G7 Summit in France (June 15-17), Caligula dined at the Versailles Palace. His excellency proclaimed that Italian PM Giorgia Meloni had “begged for a photo with me.” Meloni responded that “Neither I nor Italy ever beg.” And that was the big news coming out of our participation at the Summit. He then made his near-daily pitch about how close we are to extracting major concessions from a defeated Iran, whose unconditional surrender he was just about to obtain. This while comfortably dissembling about consumer prices tumbling while the stock market numbers go “through the roof.” In the background there was the usual drumbeat of Emoluments Clause violations; the continuing unlawful and botched renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool; incessant babble about his billion-dollar White House ballroom and who would really bear that cost (spoiler alert: taxpayers); and racist slurs about deporting Haitian and Syrian refugees currently in America under Temporary Protected Status, as the Supreme Court ruled that it is permissible for a president to strip away those protections (a Democratic president will undoubtably restore them). Racial prejudice, corruption, blatant dishonesty and incompetence for this man are all just another day at the office. And, yes, he retains quite a number of cultists who are right there with him. Norman Lewis, “The Gremlins,” 1961, oil on canvas, 47 1/4 x 63 3/4”. How any thinking person could fail to see the contrast for what it is, it’s just beyond me. Leonora Carrington, “And Then We Saw the Daughter of the Minotaur,” 1953, oil on canvas, 23 5/8 x 27 9/16”. Courtesy of the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Split Screen 2 Caligula’s latest Big Lie for the midterm election is equating the Social Democrats with the Soviet Communist Party. To quote, “These are hard core, godless Communists … They will close your churches in this country … They will kill your people, and that what they’re about.” For the Fascist Party of America, which truly is dedicated to morphing America into a White Christian Nationalist state, anyone whose political views are to the left of Attila the Hun qualifies as a Communist. They invariably lump moderate Democrats into these deliberate mischaracterizations, never learning to resist the slander. I would love to see Democrats call the red-baiters on it, have them explain what “Communism” and “Socialism” and “Social Democracy” each mean. Zohran Mamdani is the most talented among the young leaders of all wings of the Democratic Party, and it happens that he is openly a Democratic Socialist who is helping other Democratic Socialists win elections. The “churn” appears metaphorically in the form of a large wave. Over the course of the next four months that wave may somewhat dissipate or it may build into a national tidal wave. The trend line has been towards the latter, and that will be much to the national interest. The latter could result in this mafia family tightening its grip on the country as a whole. William Kentridge, still from “History of the Main Complaint,” 1996, 35mm film transferred to video, 5:50 minutes. Courtesy of the Museum of Modern Art, New York. In my Boomer lifetime I have seen a wide range of outcomes in this ongoing political melodrama. Caligula marks an aggressive and violent return of a Tammany Hall culture that today is nearing the end of a two-year monopoly on federal power. Tammany Hall controlled New York, but not the country. Keeping that monopoly in place, in mafia terms, is not about winning over the electorate. It’s all about creating the conditions for a significant minority of voters, somewhere between 40 and 45%, to hold sway. In the Democratic coalition there is virtually no Communist component. What little true Socialism there is wields little influence and enjoys no power. But the Fascist crap keeps on coming, and is a major feature of that mafia family as manifested in Caligula redux. This guy is a profoundly poor excuse for a human being. He is a sexual predator, a racist, misogynistic xenophobe. His and his minions lies and corruption can be so brazen and yet so routine that when his Vice-President argues that Watergate would today have amounted today to no more than a 12-hour news story, I have to nod in agreement. Vance got that one right, but for all the wrong reasons. This is not a president of all the people, only of those who swear fealty to his cult. The foundational Big Lie is Jan6. If you buy into that lie because you are heartless and greedy, let’s see if you can be a player on the team. A whole lot of money is at stake, and most Supreme Court rulings modify or ignore the meaning of the plain language of the Constitution starting with Citizens United, Shelton County, and now Louisiana v. Callais. Even the 14th Amendment’s stipulation of birthright citizenship just narrowly survived their naked partisanship. For now. Piero Manzoni, “Le Socle du Monde (Base of the World),” 1961, inscribed iron plinth, 100 x 100 x 82”. Courtesy of Harning and the Herning Museum of Contemporary Art, Herning, Denmark. Mail-in ballots did a bit better in SCOTUSland, but the inherent logic of the argument to do away with it stands logic on its head. The extra time that California, in particular, takes to certify election results reflects the care taken to ensure that voter fraud cannot take place. Ballot counts are reviewed by hand, with care taken to match signatures and verify voter information. Then, there is the sheer scale of California elections when compared to other states. In the June primaries California recorded over 9 million ballots. In the Los Angeles Mayoral election, about 850,000 ballots were recorded. The entire population of the state of Wyoming is about 650,000. In the Presidential election of 2024 that state counted just over 270,000 ballots. Tell me that you would argue California should count 9.2 million ballots as quickly at Wyoming counts 270,000? No wonder California takes longer to tally results. We have a whole lot more voters than anywhere else, and we take precautions to make voter fraud nearly impossible. Getting those results more slowly is exactly the reason that we have virtually no voter fraud. And allowing for the time of postal delivery (it’s the postmark that determines whether or not a ballot counts) provides voters with the assurance that if they drop it in the mailbox their ballot will be counted. Saype, “Beyond Walls, Step 22,” 2026, ground mural, eco-responsible paint on grass, Boom Island Park, Minneapolis, 310 x 75’. Print edition available. Courtesy of the artist. Split Screen 3 We are publishing this, edition #56 of our monthly Democracy Chain: Culture and politics from an art critical perspective, today, July 2nd, rather than the normal Saturday, which this month falls on July 4th. We are all aware that America is turning 250. I was 26 fifty years ago at the time of our Bicentennial in 1976. These round-figure dates alone are cause for celebration, but also for assessment and planning. For this one I will have seen two anniversaries. If I live to see a third, I would be 126; not so likely. It is still hard to imagine any human being living past 100, but a lot of folks do that now. No human being makes it to 126, let alone 176. You can only see so much history in a lifetime. Who knows? If we play our cards right there will begin to be people surviving to 126. But, no matter the hands dealt us, we’re blowing through our chips — and nature is kibitzing. One of my personal and aesthetic inspirations is an old Marvel Comics character, Uatu, The Watcher. One of Kirby and Lee’s stellar inventions, Uatu first appeared in April 1963 (“Fantastic Four,” #13). “Star Trek” premiered in September 1966. Uatu was fashioned to be majestic and benign, yet all powerful and all knowing. The alien presence of an observer who practices not just restraint but firm non-involvement in the affairs of the species being observed becomes the Prime Directive in “Star Trek”: No interference with the social development of [any given] planet. Vija Celmins, “Night Sky #19,” 1998, charcoal on paper, 22 1/2 x 26 1/2”. © Vija Celmins, courtesy of the Tate Modern, London. The principle of the Prime Directive came out of the radical break America made after World War III with all prior post-conflict resolutions. To the victor did not belong the spoils, but the means to construct an international order designed to prevent a recurrence of the Nazi and Imperial Japanese debacles. The Marshall Plan, the G.I. Bill, and the policy theories distilled by FDR that were meant to aid the developing middle class here and abroad proved wildly successful. The top income tax bracket stood at 70% until Ronald Reagan began his term in office. Let’s get back to that tax structure. And why does the cutoff point for paying the payroll tax today stand at $180,000? There should be no ceiling at all. The Social Security fund would never be spent. My belief is that the 6% interest rate on the payroll tax could be reduced to 5%, perhaps 4%. That would save businesses a lot of money in a way that serves the general public, and certainly that portion of the middle class that is has been struggling to stay there. For Americans who enjoy that much wealth, a 70% tax bracket at the top (say over $10 million of reportable income) means that they have plenty of means to do whatever they want. In nearly all of the 50 years since our Bicentennial I have been so privileged to practice the blend of art and philosophy that I was first taught at UCLA. The visual art world has changed every bit as much as society in general over those five decades, but mostly in ways that reflect the best of us. My first priority upon joining the art world was to reflect that world and funnel observation of what enabled so much creative achievement, yet failed to fully support talent or engage a significant public interest. That generalization comes with an understanding that the work of our museums and art fairs engaging and growing that audience has been significant. Next to the worlds of sports, film, TV and music, the visual art world is much smaller, its audience much less affluent or well informed. On the other hand, there are also many other important cultural forms that the visual art world dwarfs. While my personal circumstance for some years has greatly limited any travel, I have been able to do a lot for colleagues who are dedicated to visual art like I am. They are the ones who view exhibitions regularly and help break them down for you. By facilitating them I am doing what has been my priority this last half-century: caring for my family. After that, I love enabling my fellow editors and writers (and through them our artists), and I support an important interest, that of the exhibiting galleries and museums. Mark Bradford, “Pickett’s Charge (The Copse of Trees),” 2016–17, mixed media painting, one in a series of eight, 12 x 45’. Photo courtesy of the artist and Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Joshua White. At the same time, this is a moment in which Americans who truly are patriotic are stepping forward, but against a determined and unscrupulous foe, one now endowed with all of the unique wealth and power his office provides. He is the great traitor to American history and values, and he has loads of facilitators and allies slavering for their own payday. The broad public now sees that. But so does the dictator, who will say and do anything to avoid losing what he now grasps. His sense of ownership may be both false and odious but he feels it baby, he really feels it. His current Congressional leadership stands ready to negate votes and undermine certification. His militia stands ready to repeat Jan6 but with much more deadly results. And we stand ready. The power lies with our non-violent millions demonstrating, with our representatives pushing back, our observers reporting on what they observe, and of the fairness of our policy priorities. Not just their fairness, but their dedication to the better angels of our character — our rejection of repression, of brazen untruth, of enormous grift, of predatory capitalism run amok. We stand ready. Bill Lasarow, Publisher and Editor, is a longtime practicing artist, independent publisher, and community activist. He founded or co-founded ArtScene Digest to Visual Art in Southern California (1982); the Mural Conservancy of Los Angeles (1987); and Visual Art Source (2009). He is also the founder (2021) of The Democracy Chain. In 2025 he relaunched SquareCylinder with co-publishers Mark Van Proyen and DeWitt Cheng.

by Margaret Hawkins Obama Center, Chicago, Illinois July 2, 2026 Njideka Akunyili Crosby, “The Obamas: Springing Forth,” 2026, acrylic, colored pencils, charcoal, and transfers on paper, 9 x 10'. Courtesy of the artist, Victoria Miro, and David Zwirner. Commissioned by The Obama Foundation. Photo: Marten Elder. Five days after CNN aired the dazzling opening ceremony of the Obama Center I went to see the place. I’d gorged on every televised minute — the moving speeches, Christina Aguilera’s blazing rendition of “What a Wonderful World,” the fascinating dynamics of the ex-presidents and their wives. Watching all this was like drinking fresh water in a desert. We in Chicago have been anticipating this opening for years. We’ve followed the details, carped about the cost, argued about where it should be and what it should look like and what its impact on the surrounding neighborhood will be. The jury is out on that last matter. Some people have described the Center’s architecture as a crashed spaceship. It’s Chicago; we have to take our landmarks down a peg before we get used to them. As Anish Kapoor’s “Cloud Gate” became better known as “The Bean,” so the Obama Center is now the Obamalisk. Maya Lin, “Seeing Through the Universe,” 2025. All artworks courtesy of, commissioned by and on view at the Obama Center. Despite all the buildup, I wasn’t fully prepared for how moved I was by the actual place, the physical experience of being there. It’s gorgeous, not just beautiful but welcoming, inclusive, expansive, both soothing (psychologically) and exciting (intellectually, aesthetically). Each building stands free enough to view individually, yet close enough to form a campus without challenging most walkers. Trees, gardens, buildings, and open fields intertwine with wide sloping paths paved in stone colored in subtle, calming grays. Gently inclining walkways lead to a rooftop vegetable garden that offers views of the city, although you may be more interested in the fresh crop of Swiss chard. Nothing is roped off. There are no don’t-touch signs. No alarms go off if you get too close. I hate to say it, lest someone take advantage, but I didn’t see any guards. Even the parking garage feels welcoming and easy to use. It’s roomier than most, not claustrophobic. Simply put, the place is people friendly. Except for the museum, the restaurant, and the garage, it’s all free. Just show up and enjoy. Barbecue grills await. What’s going a little under the radar, though, is that the place is very much a public art venue as well. It goes way beyond celebrating the family it’s named for. Here, culture and values are inextricable. The commissioned art on view, both indoors and out, is the living expression of what Obama has long advanced — freedom, hope, and the elevating power of culture to open minds. Alison Saar, “Torch Song,” 2026, bronze. Courtesy of Alison Saar. I hadn’t realized how important visual art is to this project until I saw it firsthand. It’s not just the usual portraits. There are some of those — whole families lined up to be photographed with Njideka Akunyili Crosby’s double portrait of the Obamas, “The Obamas: Springing Forth,” in The Forum. But here, art isn’t just an illustration of historical events and famous people. Aesthetics have a place at the table, and art speaks for itself in its own mysterious language. Here are my four favorite artworks at the Obama Center: Maya Lin, “Seeing Through the Universe” Two 10,000-pound granite elements combine stone and water in a symbolic symbiosis that evokes the Obamas’ dynamic relationship but could refer to any cohesion of opposites. The horizontal stone functions as a fountain while the upright lopsided donut exudes a mist that forms a transforming lens at its empty center. Things look different when viewed through it. While I was there a tall dog drank peacefully from this elegant burbling fountain with no intervention from the guards. The dog’s enjoyment enhanced everyone’s. Alison Saar, “Torch Song” Alison Saar Saar’s sculpture of a single female figure overlooking the Women’s Garden is made of blue green patinated bronze that calls to mind both the Statue of Liberty and generations of Black female vocalists. She holds a torch in the palm of her left hand and wears two bandoliers of piano keys rather than bullet cartridges. Nekisha Durrett, “The Hem of Heaven,” still from video. Nekisha Durrett, “The Hem of Heaven” Durrett’s multi-story sculpture of interwoven ceramic tiles references Harriet Tubman’s protective shawl and her heroism in freeing over seventy enslaved people under the cloak of night. Viewable from the Obamalisk in sections through windows on several stories, it adds to the meaning of the word ‘underground’ in underground railroad. Aliza Nisenbaum, “Reading Circles/Weaving Dreams/Seeding Futures,” along with the Chicago Public Library branch in which it resides, with a special call-out to The President’s Reading Room. My most emotionally piercing moment at the Obama Center was walking into the library, where Chicagoans were standing in line to check out books. And not just books about and by the Obamas, but the kind of books public libraries still carry all over this country: bestsellers, kids’ books, serious fiction. Yes, reader, they had literary fiction there, full of all the dark thoughts and imaginative detours and politically incorrect musings available to mankind. This deeply touched my writer’s heart. Nothing has the potential to counter narrow-mindedness like fiction. Presiding over this scene is Nisenbaum’s room-length mural depicting a single day in a library. Beneath it real life was zipping along. It was crowded! Aliza Nisenbaum, “Reading Circles/Weaving Dreams/Seeding Futures.” Adjacent is what I regard as the crown jewel of the Obama Center, the quieter President’s Reading Room. This book-lined study is stocked with titles chosen by Michelle and Barack. Strangers were sitting around a big table together, reading. The shelves are full of not just history and biography, but poetry and fiction, and not necessarily of the sanitized variety. I caught sight of a collection of stories by Alice Munro, the Nobel Prize-winning author recently canceled by some bookstores following the 2024 revelations of the decades-long cover-up of Munro’s second husband’s sexual abuse of the youngest daughter from her first marriage. But nothing censorial here. This is the American spirit of freedom in full bloom. Bill Maher did a riff on the Obama Center right after it opened in which he made the arguable point that too much money was spent and we didn’t need a three-quarter-of-a-billion-dollar park to remind us of the values embodied by Obama’s administration. That money would be better spent helping the people who elected him, he argued. I understand the spirit of his complaint, but he hadn’t been there yet. The physical experience of being in the space filled with people, in the middle of the city, surrounded by art and books and nature, all free and open to the public is, well, priceless. Margaret Hawkins is a writer, critic and educator. Her books include “Lydia’s Party” (2015), “How We Got Barb Back” (2011) a memoir about family mental illness, and others. She wrote a column about art for the Chicago Sun-Times, was Chicago correspondent for ARTnews, and has written for a number of other publications including The New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, Art & Antiques and Fabrik. She teaches writing at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Loyola University. Visit Margaret Hawkins’ website.

by Liz Goldner July 2, 2026 Joe Sohm, photograph from “American Mosaic,” celebrating the 250th anniversary of the United States. Music by composer Peter Boyer. Courtesy of Joe Sohm and Peter Boyer. I have never been a flag waiver or backyard patriot reveling in Fourth of July parades. But our nation’s birthday has always been a time to reflect on the familiar sights, sounds and images relating to the sweep and scope of America and Americana. This year, as we commemorate our country’s 250th anniversary, our reputed President attempted to co-opt this momentous holiday with a barbaric UFC fight on the White House lawn, a failed attempt to paint the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool an “American flag blue,” and a highly partisan Trump rally on the National Mall after seeing most of the entertainment talent flee his sparsely attended Great American State Fair. As David Frum wrote in “The Atlantic” that “Trump has made a pitiful shambles of what should have been a glorious moment.” Jesse Wilcox Smith, “Have YOU a Red Cross Service Flag?,” 1918, print, 32 x 25”. Courtesy of the Norman Rockwell Museum Collection, Stockbridge, MA. Conversely, President Obama said at the opening of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, "It is our greatest inheritance, the story of America at its best, because it reflects a basic faith in the decency of our fellow citizens, and the possibility that, despite all of our differences, we can see each other and understand one another and make common cause together." Regardless of what activities our current president engages in to make a hash of our semiquincentennial, I am celebrating my own memories of the sights and sounds of our country, accumulated over a lifetime, in the belief that we have arrived at a pivotal moment, and that we will overcome the nation’s current travails. Having grown up in three of the original 13 colonies, I lived in and visited homes with architecture inspired by the old world Europe. I passed by homes with signs reading, “Washington Slept Here.” I visited Colonial Williamsburg, the reconstructed 18th century Virginia town with costumed actors portraying historical figures, and hiked the Appalachian Trail, which extends through 14 Eastern states. I visited a replica of the Mayflower near Cape Cod, and the nearby re-creation of the original Plymouth Colony. I walked to the top of the Pilgrim Monument in Provincetown, MA, with its displays commemorating the establishment of many New England towns. Tim O’Brien, “Vote!,” 2020, oil on board, 19 ¼ x 12 3/4”. Courtesy of the Norman Rockwell Museum Collection, Stockbridge, MA. I have lived with the sounds of Americana, including but well beyond the patriotic marches of John Philip Sousa. These include music extolling America’s grandeur by composers like George Gershwin (“Porgy and Bess”), Charles Ives (“Three Places in New England”), Aaron Copland (“Appalachian Spring”), and Leonard Bernstein (“On the Town”). In Junior High, I learned the words of Emma Lazarus’s sonnet, “The New Colossus” (famously inscribed on the base of the Statue of Liberty) by singing the poem’s final stanza, “Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor,” set to the music of Irving Berlin’s 1949 musical, “Miss Liberty.” At a recent concert by the Pacific Symphony in Orange County, CA, I was treated to a performance of a new addition to that compendium, “American Mosaic,” a multimedia collaboration by composer Peter Boyer with photographer of Americana Joe Sohm. The multimedia experience blends orchestral music, live narration, quotations from the Founders, and iconic images embracing people of all ages, races and ethnicities. The composition’s movements are evocatively titled “The New World,” “Rivers, Rails and Roads,” “Cities Arising,” “The North Star,” “The American Spirit” and “In Defense of Freedom.” Images of America seared into my consciousness include those depicting our ambitions struggles to establish and subsequent efforts to uphold and expand democratic rights. A personal favorite is a copy of the July 4, 1776 Declaration of Independence, included among 250 artifacts included in the exhibition “In Pursuit of Life, Liberty & Happiness” at the National Museum of American History. Norman Rockwell, “Freedom of Speech,” 1943, offset color lithograph on paper, 48 x 35 1/2”. Courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C. Norman Rockwell’s 1943 series of paintings, “The Four Freedoms” — freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want and freedom from fear — are based on FDR’s 1941 State of the Union address. These familiar images continue to inspire me. Rockwell’s “Freedom of Speech” illustrates a working-class man speaking courageously to an attentive crowd. It serves as an antidote to today’s dysfunctional political climate and honors the many fearless citizens who refuse to accept the current regime’s efforts to destroy so many constitutional rights. John Falter, “Family Portrait on the Fourth,” 1952, cover illustration for the Saturday Evening Post, July 5, 1952. Courtesy of the Saturday Evening Post Archive. Other images that memorably express American liberty include Jessie Willcox Smith’s “Have YOU a Red Cross Service Flag?” (1918), created during World War I, and Tim O’Brien’s dramatic “Vote” (2020), from a time of attempted voter repression, especially for people of color. There is also John Falter’s “Family Portrait on the Fourth” (1952), which served as a cover illustration for the “Saturday Evening Post.” The sights, sounds and images of our country not only help to illustrate and reflect the ideals of America's evolving story, they strengthen the values that we celebrate. As Michelle Obama remarked at the Obama Center opening, “… you all have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that when we truly see each other, when we strive to bring out the best in ourselves and one another, oh, there is no limit to how high we can go.” Liz Goldner is an award-winning art writer based in Laguna Beach. She has contributed to the LA Times, LA Weekly, KCET Artbound, Artillery, AICA-USA Magazine, Orange County Register, Art Ltd. and several other print and online publications. She has written reviews for ArtScene and Visual Art Source since 2009. Liz Goldner’s Website.

by Bill Lasarow June 6, 2026 Jenny Holzer, “Protect Me From What I Want,” 1987, embroidered hat. Courtesy of the University of Iowa Libraries. But first … It is now well established that the billionaire Ellisons’ absorption of CBS, etc., was a political, not a business decision. The publicly stated reason for the cancellation of “Late Night with Stephen Colbert” was transparently false, and that has been followed by the effective cancellation of “60 Minutes.” Soon enough, this media conglomerate, which will also include CNN, will be unrecognizable, recast in accordance with the vision and at the order of one man using the power of the federal government to censor speech that he hates (truly). Does the eradication of the First Amendment remain in doubt? Former Republicans even now invoke the word “socialism” as though it were a curse word, even as the most socialistic government in American history calls private sector winners and losers. Let’s be clear: these people are just getting started. When First Amendment rights of speech and expression apply only to their own partisans, there are no First Amendment rights at all. And the murdering of 60 Minutes lays it all to rest. I do have a rather obvious suggestion. Either NBC or ABC should poach the 60 Minutes team and simply move the program to its network. Good economics. There are four major components that make up the Fascist Party’s constituency. The central and most militant group consists of the true fascists and Nazis, xenophobes at their core. Then there are the descendants of the traitorous Confederacy, who may have given up on slavery, but who persist in their deeply felt racism. Third are the homophobes for whom transgender female (formerly male) athletes serve their desire to end same-sex marriage and the legalized practice of homosexuality in any form. And fourth are the misogynists who favor the reduction or elimination of women’s rights — both reproductive and voting — and equal access to the workplace. Nari Ward, “Duty Colossus,” 2011, dhow boat, metal, hemlock wood bamboo, metal chimney, copper drum, used furniture and Plexiglas. Courtesy of the artist. I’ve left of the Christian fundamentalists for last because they have every right to their faith beliefs under the Constitution. As such, they are the one group that forms a legitimate opposition constituency. But their desire to impose their faith principles on the rest of us is wrong, both morally and in terms of the Founders’ Age of Reason principles and beliefs. Most were Deists (with some exceptions) who wanted nothing to do with the form of Christianity that modern fundamentalism represents. Today’s conservative Christians regard America as a Christian nation and strongly oppose the separation of church and state that the Founders stipulated. No, America is not a Christian nation; it was founded and conceived as a secular government that is legally constrained from imposing ANY religion upon its citizens. Which brings me to the Democratic Party. It is easy to understand that the economy is, if anything, even more the issue of greatest concern to voters than it was in 2024. The actual policies, such as they are, of the Mafia Regime have noticeably weakened the economy, not to mention our national security. It does make sense that Democrats have been racking up off-year election victories on the mantra of affordability, with a strong side order of corruption. But the continuing and intentional dismantling of democracy and the rule of law are the real enemies from within that drive affordability, and I would like to see those dots connected by Democratic candidates. Shahzia Sikander, “Pleasure Pillars,” 2001, vegetable color, dry pigment, and watercolor on tea-stained wasli paper, 17 x 12”. Courtesy of the Museum of Fine Art, Houston. I would like to see Democratic candidates explicitly reject the Fascist Party’s four major voting blocs and make it abundantly clear that they will find no home in the Democratic Party. Not now, not ever. Doing so would help draw the contrast between the Founders’ vision and the anti-American vision that each represents — xenophobia, racism, sexism, and homophobia. I would like to hear Democratic Party leaders and candidates use that language and call out such voters as unwelcome in a democracy and specifically within the Democratic Party. I would like to hear them reject such voters and not back down. There remain millions of conservatives who simply do not have a political home, but that is their problem. They will need to form a new leadership with the patience and fortitude to rebuild. That is not the Democrats problem. Worse, to address voters as though this version of the former Republican Party were still the political opposition will make the much-needed blue tidal wave in November less likely and less massive. Make no mistake, we need a massive blue wave this November, and that wave must continue for some years to come. The single greatest success of the anti-American Mafia Regime has been to energetically undermine free and fair elections, the most foundational ingredient of any democracy. Consider the core falsehood that Caligula and his allies employ to undermine free and fair elections: fraud. Repeated without any evidence, it is a tactic that Republicans have used since the long-ago time of Newt Gingrich’s speakership. Gingrich’s big idea was to cast Democrats not as the loyal opposition but as the enemy. Sung Tieu and Vu Thi Hanh, “They Have Eyes, But They See Not, They Have Ears, But They Hear Not,” installation view (left) and detail (right), 2026, aluminum foil, aluminum, wood, magnet, lacquer dimensions vary. Courtesy of Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg. The history of health care coverage is a prime example of this shift. Bill Clinton sought to create a public health insurance plan in 1993 — referred to as Hillarycare because Hillary Clinton headed the Task Force on National Health Care Reform — that would have mandated employers to provide all employees with health insurance. There were conservative arguments against what they characterized as a “top-down big government” program, arguing that far from liberating families from the costs and uncertainties of the a profit-driven health insurance industry. It would do the opposite. Two factors doomed that plan. First, congressional Democrats never fully unified behind it. Second was “Harry and Louise,” a TV ad that ran for a full year claiming that far from making life more secure Hillarycare would subject families to a confusing and repressive bureaucracy. The formula has become all too familiar. Republicans characterize any major government program as “bureaucratic” and “socialistic” but offer no explanation or evidence how or why. Health care is such a pertinent example of malfeasance because of the existence of Medicare and Medicaid. These are big government programs to be sure, and they work. Yinka Shonibare, “Moving Up,” 2021, fibreglas mannequins, Dutch wax printed cotton textile, bespoke globes, brass, leather, hemp rope, paper, various toys, cotton, silk, steel, aluminum and painted wood, 90 1/2 x 141 3/4 x 98 1/2”. Courtesy of the artist. But rather than keeping it simple by expanding both to include the broad working age middle class, Democrats sought to reshape health care to resemble the free market. As though universal health coverage paid for with tax dollars would somehow destroy the free market any more than public education or highways do. If part of their intent was to soften Republican resistance or attract the moderate wing of those voters, instead it weakened the party’s political relationship with many of its own voters. Intended as a free market model, Hillarycare nonetheless allowed Republicans to ignore the details. Hillarycare was still “big government socialism.” Many liberals who had called for Medicare expansion for thirty years felt little excitement, and some felt politically homeless. When we move ahead to the Affordable Care Act, which of course did finally pass in 2010, it was tagged by Republicans as “Obamacare” and was again intentionally based on a free market model. It was first designed by the conservative Heritage Foundation and implemented in one state by a Republican governor. In spite of making the same mistake, and very nearly being repealed in 2017 (but for John McCain’s famous thumbs down, it would have been), the law reduced the number of uninsured Americans by half and gradually gained the kind of polling numbers it enjoys today — about 59% favorability. That did not prevent Republican leadership from calling it a “train wreck” — as usual without any evidence or even an explanation, just the terminology. Mierle Laderman Ukeles, “Ceremonial Arch Honoring Service Workers in the New Service Economy, Installation IV,” 2016–17, 5,000 hand-signed dirty work gloves from 13 New York City municipal and state agencies, steel armature. Installation at the Queen’s Museum, 2016-17. Photo courtesy of Ronald Feldman Gallery, New York. This is essentially where we find ourselves today, only now confronted by the far greater evils of fascism and mafia criminality. No matter whether a given Democrat is a moderate or a social democrat, from Caligula on down the language of the opposition stays the same, marked by the same absence of evidence or a reasoned case. Meanwhile, I worry that even following a successful wave election this November that Democrats may still fail to articulate their liberalism and demonstrate a commitment to what that means. As we draw deeper into the election season my hope is that Democrats will sell what makes them Democrats and not fall into an old trap. And while they are at it, let anyone who is a racist, sexist, xenophobe, and/or homophobe know that they should stay at home with the one party that wants them. They can have ‘em. Bill Lasarow, Publisher and Editor, is a longtime practicing artist, independent publisher, and community activist. He founded or co-founded ArtScene Digest to Visual Art in Southern California (1982); the Mural Conservancy of Los Angeles (1987); and Visual Art Source (2009). He is also the founder (2021) of The Democracy Chain. In 2025 he relaunched SquareCylinder with co-publishers Mark Van Proyen and DeWitt Cheng.

by Mark Van Proyen June 6, 2026 Ranu Mukherjee, “A Place to Find the Light,” 2023. Courtesy of the artist and Gallery Wendi Norris, San Francisco. May 19, 2026 should have been a day that would live in infamy, if anybody had bothered to pay close attention. That was the day that Vice-President J.D. Vance stood in for an absent Press Secretary Karoline Levitt, who was away on maternity leave. Suffice it to say that for many reasons this was no normal press briefing. One of those was damage control pertaining to President Trump’s disappointing visit to China (May 12 to 15), during which Chinese President Xi Jinping clearly took the upper hand on the Strait of Hormuz, Taiwan, and tariffs. Trump all but assured Xi that the U.S. would not come to Taiwan’s aid if the mainland were to attack, signaling that by indefinitely delaying a multi-billion arms package for the island nation. In return, Trump got almost nothing in return beyond a Chinese promise to buy 200 Boeing passenger jets. Four days after Trump returned home, Russian President Vladimir Putin went to China to meet with Xi, walking away with 21 separate trade deals. During the three-day visit with Trump, Xi played him like a Stradivarius, first by refusing to greet him when he landed and then having a bevy of youthful tweeners flank Trump as he shambled toward an awaiting limousine — a pointed jab at Trump’s connections to the ongoing Jeffery Epstein scandal. Indo-Pacific allies such as Japan, South Korea and the Philippines took notice of the whole display. Japan is already increasing its defense budget. “Bust of Commodus as Hercules,” c. 192 AD, carrara marble, h. 52 1/4”. Courtesy of the Capitoline Museums, Rome. Xi made the point that Trump’s Indo-Pacific strategy ran the risk of falling into a Thucydides trap, which should have been taken as a thinly veiled threat had Trump only known who Thucydides was. His very presence as the American president made Xi’s case, and Trump’s ignorance closed it. The reference of course was to the Greek historian Thucydides, who wrote about the Peloponnesian conflict between Athens and Sparta that took place from 434 to 404 BCE. The Spartans finally won, forcing the Athenians to relinquish most of their powerful navy, leading to an end of their maritime empire and the “golden age” built by it. Recent political scientists have over-simplified the idea as referring to the tendency of an established power to miscalculate the use of force into a disastrous conflict when a new rival power arises. That was what Xi meant when he spoke to Trump, but Thucydides had more to say that bears on the current situation. Indeed, Sparta did win the war, but it was not very good at winning the peace. In a matter of a few years, Athens regained its independence. Soon after came the age of Athenian philosophy, where new empires of the mind were built in the absence of the old maritime empire. This final point highlights the current US-China situation. During the past two decades, the US has spent about 5 trillion dollars on regime change wars that were partial or complete failures. During that same time, China has engaged in no military conflicts, although it has provided weapons to other combatants. What China has done is spend a similar amount of capital on a massive global infrastructure build-out from which it is now reaping exponentially greater benefits. This is the long game, and China is winning. One measure of their success lies in trade imbalances ($203 billion in 2025, down about $33 billion from the previous year) and the amount of US Treasuries held by China (currently about $233 billion). These statistics indicate that the newly emerging “empire of the mind” is measured in the use of money as a weapon, as opposed the ancient use of ideas for the same purpose. When Trump returned home, he was greeted with yet another sharp drop in poll numbers, his negatives dropping to an almost two-to-one disapproval rating. While the aging and increasingly incoherent President recovered from jetlag, J.D. Vance stepped up to the podium. His effort was directed at stopping the bleeding and to righting the Republican’s sinking ship. Giuseppe Penone, “Idee di Pietra,” 2017, bronze and stone installation, Gstaad, Switzerland. Courtesy of the artist and Gagosian Gallery, New York. Photo: Marcus Veith. His May 19th address to the press was much more than a standard exercise of media management. It was a stump speech that tried to reset the entire tone of the Trump administration at a time when it was and still is hemorrhaging supporters six months before the upcoming mid-term election. Vance was sharp, affable, confident and a bit smarmy in ways reminiscent of George Bush Jr. He re-affirmed his Catholicism while backing away from his recent criticism of Pope Leo XIV’s support for migrants and refugees, at that point a feeble bone-toss to offended American Catholics. At several junctures he was outright obsequious when referring to Trump’s stewardship of the war in Iran and the economic consequences stemming from it. In short, he was trying to rally disaffected supporters while not undermining the dotard-in-Chief … too much. The question is, who was Vance rallying support for? The obvious answer was himself. He is only 41 years old, but his political fortunes are tied to Trump and there can be no untying of that knot, no distancing himself from Trump administration policy mistakes. Instead, he drenched his appeal in rhetorical perfume. He is, after all, the Vice-President of an administration that has started an unnecessary war without the legally required Congressional authorization, a war most noteworthy for being a tactical success and a strategic failure of epic proportions. William Hogarth, “Marriage A-la-Mode: 2, The Téte á Téte,” c. 1743, oil on canvas, 27 1/2 x 35 7/8”. Courtesy of the National Gallery, London. That same administration will face a well-deserved tsunami of impeachment proceedings come January if it cannot contrive a way to steal the mid-term elections (lord knows it’s been trying), portending a two-year parade of lame duck shenanigans. Vance’s only chance for any political future is to win the Republican nomination in 2028 in hopes that the Democratic nominee will snatch defeat from the jaws of victory on the campaign trail. Judging from the amount of sheer denial with which the Democrats have greeted their much-delayed Autopsy report about the 2024 election, such a self-destruction cannot be dismissed. In any event, Vance’s nomination is itself less then certain, as Marco Rubio is also making noises about seeking it by calling for an invasion of Cuba, claiming on May 21 that it is a “national security” threat. But the very next day Trump announced that a ceasefire had been negotiated with Iran, with a framework for ending hostilities very close to follow. The stock market responded accordingly. Then on May 23 Trump threw cold water on the hope for peace by walking back his statement from the previous day. On Memorial Day, US forces attacked Iran in what was called a “defensive strike,” even though the Iranians were abiding by the terms of the 30-day cease fire that had lasted five days. In response, the Iranians fired ballistic missiles at American bases in Kuwait, missiles that supposedly had been destroyed. Both sides accused the other of violating the ceasefire agreement. Meanwhile, commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz remains at a virtual standstill. Trump’s final humiliation is that sticking with the Obama administration’s JCPOA agreement with Iran was the best deal he could have gotten. In 2017, he ripped it up, and, after a costly military misadventure, it is clear that he can do no better. Eventually, we may have to learn to live with a future Iran more determined than ever to arm itself with nuclear weapons. Maurizio Cattelan, “No,” 2021, silicone, rubber, natural hair, clothing, boots and paper bag, 39 3/4 x 16 1/8 x 17”. Courtesy of UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing. Meanwhile, also on May 23, China deployed over 100 military ships around the island of Taiwan, rehearsing a blockade strategy at a much larger scale than previously undertaken. This may be the plan for how the PRC plans to force Taiwan to capitulate without conducting an outright invasion of the island. NVIDA CEO Jensen Huang recently claimed that Taiwan is at the center of the AI revolution because it is the place where high performance computer chips are designed and manufactured. If that is true, a peaceful takeover might have uniquely 21st century consequences that are yet to be fully imagined. Mark Van Proyen has written commentaries emphasize the tragic consequences of blind faith placed in economies of narcissistic reward. In 2020, he retired from the faculty of the San Francisco Art Institute, where he taught Painting and Art History. From 2003 to 2018, he was a corresponding editor for Art in America. In 2025 he relaunched SquareCylinder with co-publishers Bill Lasarow and DeWitt Cheng. Photo credit: Mary Ijichi

by Margaret Hawkins June 6, 2026 Hilma af Kint, “Group X, No. 1, Altarpiece,” 1915, tempera on paper, 59 7/8 x 72 7/8”. Courtesy of the Guggenheim Museum, New York. “Until we are able to look at people who have come to radically different conclusions about the world and know that we are each other’s people, we are sunk.” — Allie n Steve, The Chicago Reader At the end of every semester, I ask students to write about what they learned. I find out what worked, what’s important to them, and where I went wrong. Sometimes they leave with a completely different experience than I thought I’d delivered. Some of these things I already know. I’ve watched their writing improve, seen how in a few short months they abandon cliché and embrace fresher and more precise language, which in turn allows for deeper expressiveness. They experiment with form and voice, and broach difficult subjects in brave and poetic ways. Tonika Lewis Johnson, “Folded Map Project: 6900 South Ashland Avenue and 6950 North Ashland Avenue,” 2020. Courtesy of the artist and the Chicago Community Trust. Reading their essays, I always hope to see they’ve fallen in love with some of the authors I hold in esteem. I want them to say they have taken up my campaigns, signed on to my crusade against adverb bloat. Sometimes they have. More often, though, they write about something I don’t associate with writing: community. I was going to say likeminded community, but it’s not even that. Repeatedly, they say what they most valued about the class was the workshop format, sitting in a circle rather than rows, listening to each other, being listened to. Every semester I see students excited by the respect and attention given their work by those who are not like them, people they formerly never would have talked with, and the opportunity to read and respect the work of those same people. They report, over and over again, how surprised they are to feel safe in the company of others. There’s a lot of talk among commentators about the coddled younger generation(s) demanding too much safety in their discourse. It’s my impression that college students don’t want safety so much as connection. They are lonely. They are hungry for civilized human interaction and, at the same time and for good reason, are afraid of it. What makes it possible in these classes I teach is Art. Talking about it, reading it, and, especially, making it allows people to be different together, and to be so with respect and curiosity. Differences don’t disappear. On the contrary, they more than coexist. They shine. They feel exciting, engaging, and if not blandly safe, then safe enough in the very act of dialogue. Zen garden at Chicago Botanic Garden. The same week I was reading these student reflections a guy showed up at my house to fix the garage door opener. While he worked, I noticed unusual sounds coming out of his truck. At first, I thought it was an odd phone ringer, but its hypnotic, atonal monotony began to take shape. The sound was structured, if not exactly melodic, and I realized it was music. It began to harmonize with the sounds and rhythms of my husband sweeping sand in circles into cracks between the patio stones. I thought of the raked sand in the Zen garden at the Chicago Botanic Garden and with that realization I fell into a mild trance. I stood watching and listening for a while, transported to someplace both calm and exciting while remaining in my own back yard. When we were settling the bill, I asked the repairman about the sounds emanating from his truck. He said it was techno music by a contemporary French composer. It turned out the repairman was a professional violist who performs chamber music. Later he sent a link. Jonathan Fitoussi, “Plein Soleil,” 2020, video of ambient music, 47 minutes, 50 seconds. I don’t normally listen to music or podcasts when I walk my dog, but now I listen to the French techno composer Jonathan Fitoussi and enjoy the walk in a new way. It makes me feel disembodied, like I’m in outer space looking down on the dog, the bushes and myself, and that we are all one. I wouldn’t know about this without having spoken with the repairman who turned out to be an artist. Which brings me back to what I learned from my writing students about being transgender (book recommendation below), about volcano parties, and the fact that these days girls get to play trombone. A self-described mobile gender sound artist and teaching colleague of mine calls themself Allie n Steve. I’m using the non-binary plural here, but they are quoted in an interview in The Chicago Reader that they don’t care much about pronouns, that other people are entitled to their own view of them. Their children, they point out, call them Dad. In a world where people are dedicated to and even proud of not getting along, where only Republican Supreme Court justices get invited to state dinners and families break up over politics, art is a way to get through it all. Art goes deeper, it digs under the wall of differences. It refuses to divide neatly into opposites. Art blurs boundaries. David Lang interview on Freakonomics (click image to listen). In an interview with Steven Dubner on his Freakonomics podcast, Pulitzer Prize-winning classical composer David Lang, known most recently for his oratorio based on Adam Smith’s “The Wealth of Nations,” described a musical epiphany he had at a soccer match in the UK. Listening to fifty thousand people sing “incredibly lewd” (his description) songs in harmony jolted his imagination. It was the democracy of the united voices that moved him, he says. The only requirement for joining the chorus was the belief that the home team should win. I see it every semester. People put aside differences and listen to each other’s stories and essays for a few hours a week for a few months of their life and they start to think more broadly. It’s not a coincidence. Art is a different way to live in the world than the usual judging, competing, and rushing. It doesn’t erase differences; it might even highlight them. But it also broadens context, illuminates a web of connectedness we forget exists. A current runs between us, a hum you can feel if you listen for it. Art is one of the best ways to make that happen. Margaret Hawkins is a writer, critic and educator. Her books include “Lydia’s Party” (2015), “How We Got Barb Back” (2011) a memoir about family mental illness, and others. She wrote a column about art for the Chicago Sun-Times, was Chicago correspondent for ARTnews, and has written for a number of other publications including The New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, Art & Antiques and Fabrik. She teaches writing at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Loyola University. Visit Margaret Hawkins’ website.

by Bill Lasarow May 2, 2026 Los Angeles, California Ai Wei Wei, “Oil Spills,” 2006, glazed porcelain in ten parts, dimensions variable. Courtesy of Artsy, artsy.net. But first … A downright hilarious irony having to do with Caligula’s arrogant, buried-in-his-ballroom bubble mismanagement of his little excursion in Iran: the price of gasoline at the pump is the equivalent of a Big Socialist Government’s implementing the price-per-gallon increase to fund the transition to renewables. Despite the overt hostility of the American Fascist Party to solar, wind, etc., the promise of much more expensive fossil fuel could hardly be better designed to get more EVs sold (a 14% increase in March sales was the immediate response to this adventure). Where might this force other environmental practices in the private sector? My best guess is that the response of consumers and private companies over the next year and beyond will far outstrip any of the nonsense “money saving” policies of this so-called government. Combating climate change, it turns out, may never have had a more committed friend. Or more to the point, a more useful enemy. The first punchline that the recent film “Nuremberg” delivers is a familiar courtroom drama. This is the point in the trial and the screenplay in which Hermann Göring, who has been using the psychiatrist Dr. Douglas Kelly as a foil to prepare for this very moment, is on the verge of avoiding the death penalty. Just as it appears that Göring has finally won his joust with lead prosecutor Robert Jackson, one final question comes from the British solicitor Sir David Maxwell Fyfe: “Do you still believe in Hitler?” The historical record of Göring’s response: “I am not here to deify or glorify Hitler. I am here to say that I have kept my pledge [to him], even now, because I believe in keeping an oath of loyalty not only in good times but also in bad.” Gerhard Richter, “Abstract Painting,” 1990 oil on canvas. Courtesy of Gerhard Richter. The prior sword play recedes, rendered unnecessary all along. And when we cut to the chase, the screenplay’s Göring must still say “Sieg Heil.” What does the record say? Now we can call that up … amazing. The basic details are historical. But that scene is still a writer’s conceit. The story could have been written another way: Göring is not found guilty of crimes against humanity punishable by death. Then in his mid-50s, a lifetime barring him from public life would have meant something, so long as it was enforced. Albert Speer was incarcerated in the unique prison at Spandau for 20 years. Göring would have been able to rejoin his wife and daughter, at least on occasion, who knows, he might have also been freed after 20 years to enjoy the kind of forgiving, if misguided, celebrity that his more contrite colleague gained as he aged and released books that so many of us were eager to read. But the real closing statement occurs in what plays as an epilogue. Dr. Kelly concludes in his new book about Göring more or less what Hannah Arendt expressed in “The Banality of Evil.” A confluence of a group of like-minded people is required to oversee great public benefit. But such groups also are formed to commit great and deadly injustices committed with alacrity. Because in America the model of organized crime has long been the mafia, the governing model of fascism in Europe here resembles an extortion racket. The Emoluments Clause? Voting rights? Racial and gender equity? Without meaningful regulation and enforcement the mafia boss (Caligula of course) simply does as he pleases, no matter the provisions and principles of the Constitution. The broadest expression of his own militia on the ground, ICE (… and others), is a direct product of threats of violence that often begin with the dictator’s social media proclamations. After a decade of insults and death threats the overall social decay has organically metastasized and escalated. The transparent greed of the ruling family drives decision-making on an ascending curve, up to and including the shaping of foreign policy and alliances based on radically favorable business deals. Taryn Simon, “A Living Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters I-XVIII,” 2011, archival inkhet prints comprised of 4 components, overall 84 x 191 1/4”. Courtesy of © Taryn Simon and Gagosian Gallery, New York. Then there are the foot soldiers, themselves cannon fodder who either sign up in hopes of their own payday, or who do so willingly because they believe that the progress of women, minorities and immigrants pose a threat … to what exactly? Hitler convinced much of the German public that the Jews and other minority groups posed an existential threat to some racially pure German society that they only imagined. Their notion of science, then and now, was to place the cart before the horse. In exchange we give up our personal freedom to varying degrees and are expected to passively expose ourselves to the possibility of accepting the dismantling of the middle class and the social safety net. And so we have stepped irretrievably away from the era shaped by the Great Depression, the Second World War, the launch of a system of international law that began with the Nuremberg Trials and lead to the Geneva Conventions and the United Nations, the recovery of Europe and Asia enabled by the Marshall Plan, and the social miracles produced by key New Deal and Great Society programs. Trevor Paglen, “They Watch the Moon,” 2010, C-Print, 36 x 48”. Courtesy of the artist There is now a small class of overseers empowered to vet and issue orders without legal or moral constraints, guided only by the predatory instincts of the worst among us. Those orders ultimately come, directly or indirectly, from the one person at the top of the power pyramid. We are now living in an America where, however dishonestly and illegally achieved, the mafia model and the culture it logically produces are today operating the U.S. federal government. The worst barbarism of the Nazi Party has not come to the Fascist Party of America because so many Americans, aware of that past history and influenced by the shining example of our own Civil Rights Movement, refuse to give in. The danger of a future de-Nazification, in the event the war was lost, was well understood by the Nazis. Hitler himself issued the Nero Decree, ordering the self-destruction of the German nation, knowing very well that the Allies would uncover the death camps. Göring and his fellow collaborators understood the consequences of this very well. So does Caligula and his inner circle, who have thankfully not yet approached the ultimate moral horror of the Final Solution. It is millions of Americans engaged in a vast and energetic backlash who are to be thanked for that. And therein lies the next great era of our history. The opportunity lies before us to reinvent the Founders’ vision grounded on a stronger framework and a fresh dedication to the moral principles that can no longer be taken for granted. Shimon Attie, “Almstadtstrasse 5 (formerly Grenadierstrasse 24): Slide projection of former Jewish resident and hat shop, ca. 1930, Berlin,” 1993, color photograph and on-location installation. With that in mind, it is worth recounting the final scene of the movie “Nuremberg” verbatim: Ori Gersht, “Untitled 02 (Amalgamation),” 2024, archival pigment print, 48 1/2 x 39 1/4”. Courtesy of Tally Dunn Gallery, Dallas. Interviewer: I have to be honest, Dr. Kelley. I find some of the conclusions in your book quite unbelievable. You were dealing with the Nazis, who you must admit are unique people. Dr. Douglas Kelley: They are not unique people. There are people like the Nazis in every country in the world today. Interviewer: Not in America. Kelley: Yes, in America. Their personality patterns are not obscure. There are people who want to be in power. And while you say they don’t exist here, I would say I’m quite certain there are people in America who would willingly climb over the corpses of half the American public if they knew they could gain control of the other half. Interviewer: Doctor, please. Kelley: They stoke hatred. It’s what Hitler and Göring did, and it is textbook. And if you think the next time it happens, we’re going to recognize it because they’re wearing scary uniforms, you’re out of your damn mind. Interviewer: More with our panel when we return. [Kelley begins to leave and a producer speaks to him] Producer: Yeah, uh-huh. They’re not going to invite you to stay for the next segment. Let’s go. And just so you know, trashing our country is probably not the best way to sell your book. # # # Magdelena Abakanowicz, “Agora,” 2006, hollow, seamless, rusted iron, each 106 figures are 9 feet tall. Courtesy of Polish Ministry of Culture and Grant Park, Chicago. For the record, Kelley’s biography in brief is that growing up he fought a fascination with suicide. His book, “The Nazi and the Psychiatrist,” indeed did not sell. He was very active in his field of study, the psychological motivations of criminals. He struggled with alcoholism. At the age of 45 he suffered a burn in a minor kitchen accident. His wife and three children watched in horror as he drank down a potassium cyanide capsule. And died. “Trashing the country is probably not the best way to sell your book.” Now that is a chilling and prescient punchline, and one that every American needs to engage in some soul searching about. The truth that Kelley exposed for all to reject: “If you think the next time it happens we’re going to recognize it because they’re wearing scary uniforms, you’re out of your damn mind.” So here we are, and the battle has been joined. Bill Lasarow, Publisher and Editor, is a longtime practicing artist, independent publisher, and community activist. He founded or co-founded ArtScene Digest to Visual Art in Southern California (1982); the Mural Conservancy of Los Angeles (1987); and Visual Art Source (2009). He is also the founder (2021) of The Democracy Chain. In 2025 he relaunched SquareCylinder with co-publishers Mark Van Proyen and DeWitt Cheng.

by Liz Goldner May 2, 2026 Irvine, California Clare Romano, “Grand Canyon,” 1977, color colagraph on wove paper, 56 1/2 x 76 1/4”. Courtesy of National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. In March 2025, our government posted to its Whitehouse website, “The widespread effort to rewrite history deepens societal divides and fosters a sense of national shame.” The website also asserts: “Over the past decade, Americans have witnessed a concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation’s history, replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth.” Lewis Hine, “Climbing into America,” 1905 printed in 1930s, gelatin silver print, 24 1/2 x 19 3/8”. Courtesy of National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. Eschewing that directive, museums across our country are displaying historically accurate exhibitions celebrating our nation’s 250th anniversary or semiquincentennial. Two of these museums are mounting shows that authentically address America’s history and victories, its social changes, immigration as a major force in our culture, issues with indigenous people and those of color, struggles to achieve the freedoms that are at risk today, and much more. These historically oriented museums include the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., exhibiting “Dear America,” and the Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge, Massachusetts, presenting “American Stories: From Revolution to Rockwell.” “Dear America” (running through September 10, 2026) brings together more than 100 artworks, including prints, photos and drawings, exploring our country’s landscape, its people and concepts of freedom, most from the National Gallery’s extensive collection of American art. Robert Indiana, “Liberty ’76,” 1974-75 color screenprint on Lenox 100% Rag wove paper, 101 1/4 x 91 1/2”. Courtesy of National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. The exhibition’s first section, “Land,” is devoted to the grandeur of the American landscape, referred to as sites of wonder, belonging, survival, and memory. The paintings include the mist-shrouded “Tower at Tower Falls, Yellowstone” (1872) by Thomas Moran; Winslow Homer’s “Hudson River, Logging” (1891-1892), in which two loggers admire the magnificent scenery; the vibrantly colored nine-segment gridded “Grand Canyon” (1977), by Clare Romano; and “The Niagara Cascades” (2024), by Kay WalkingStick (Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma). James Montgomery Flagg, “I Want You for U.S. Army,” 1917, chromolithograph on paper. The paintings are accompanied by the gelatin silver print, “Mount McKinley and Wonder Lake, Denali National Park, Alaska” (1947), photographed by Ansel Adams to advance Alaska’s wilderness as the “most important campaign in which I have participated.” Mitch Epstein’s “Mount Rushmore National Memorial, Six Grandfathers, South Dakota” (2018) was shot with clouds partially obscuring the carved portraits, referencing the controversial history of the monument, as both an example and a symbol of broken treaties, given that the Memorial was built on Native American land. In the second section, “Community,” Tom Jones’ (Ho-Chunk Nation) painting “My Country, 'Tis of Thee” (2002) portrays an elderly Native American woman overwhelmed by a smiling angelic woman (a stand-in for the influx of white Americans) holding a large American flag over her. Several intense portraits by Sedrick E. Huckaby reveal the emergence of new ways of depicting Black Americans in the 21st century. His textured paint handling viscerally captures the emotions of people historically considered marginal, now aspiring to and often achieving entry into the middle class. Included also in this section is “The Family” (1976) series by Richard Avedon. Among his photos of politicians, media moguls and financiers are the more familiar images of Ralph Nader, Andrew Young, and President Jimmy Carter. The final section in “Dear America” addresses the concept of “Freedom,” starting with depictions of the American Revolution and the Civil War. These are followed by photos by Lewis Hine, “Climbing into America” (1905), a close-up of Italian immigrants arriving at Ellis Island, and Alfred Stieglitz’s “The Steerage” (1907), an overview of immigrants arriving as part of the mass movement of people, “fleeing oppression and seeking new opportunities,” over the four decades leading up to World Way I and the 1924 Immigration Act. Jumping several more decades ahead, Pop Art contextualized Robert Indiana’s “Liberty ’76” (1974–1975), created to celebrate the Bicentennial with the message that freedom is fundamental to our democracy. “American Stories: From Revolution to Rockwell” (running June 6 to October 10, 2026) will present the history, sweep and scope of Americana from the Revolution to today. The exhibition explores how artists have illustrated our nation’s ideals and its evolution, creating legendary imagery in the process. Norman Rockwell, "Liberty Bell (Celebration),” 1976, cover illustration for American Artist, oil on canvas. Courtesy of the Norman Rockwell Museum. Containing more than 250 works, including textiles, ceramics, paintings, prints, drawings and books, “American Stories” focuses on “the power of the image to express our aspirations, argue for social change, educate and entertain the populace, and bring light to dark moments.” The exhibition explains that America as an idea “is shaped, reflected, and honed” through many of these images. Galleries display historic and contemporary art works, chosen to inspire us to ponder the importance of illustrations contributing to our national narrative. “A Sense of Place” includes a series of works that relate the history of Niagara Falls, from early illustrations of its Indigenous ownership to paintings celebrating its natural grandeur, to images advertising its tourism industry, and finally to the Falls as a source of hydroelectric power. Images from the World Wars include the familiar James Montgomery Flagg’s “Uncle Sam Wants You for the U.S. Army” (1917), and J. Howard Miller’s “We Can Do It!” (1942). More politically oriented images by Tim O’Brien include “Go Back Where Your Came From” (2019), of the Statue of Liberty illustrated from the rear as she waves goodbye to immigrants, and his “Vote” (2020), of a young Black woman encouraging all of us to vote. Several compassionate paintings by Norman Rockwell, in his typically finely wrought realistic style, express political and social values such as democracy, service and integrity. These include 1943’s “Thanksgiving.” of a young homeless woman warming up food in the chilly outdoors. In “Golden Rule” (1961), a tightly knit group of people representing different religions, races and ethnicities stand harmoniously together, above the words, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Rockwell created his final painting, “Liberty Bell (Celebration)” (1976) a few years before he died, “to commemorate the birthday of the nation he had spent his whole life depicting.” Shonto Begay, “Navajo Blue Highway,” 2018, acrylic on canvas. Courtesy of © Shonto Begay and Art Bridges. Other topics in this vast exhibition are the natural world, innovation, the equal rights movements, and issues of Indigenous people. Shonto Begay’s painting “Navajo Blue Highway” (2018) focuses on a pickup truck carrying five Native American men and a dog, likely commuting from fields that could be in Gallup, Phoenix or Albuquerque back to their homes after a long day of working on the land. Its thick impasto brushwork, evoking the look of Vincent van Gogh’s nighttime paintings, conveys the intensity and determination of the Navajo people to survive and thrive. Under the partisan constrictions of the current administration, art exhibition statements can be subject to alterations and to the selective deletion of works. “Dear America” and “American Stories” demonstrate that curators and museum directors can still mount historically accurate displays that stimulate, educate and inspire us while refusing to align with the dicta of administration officials. These courageous exhibitions support our ongoing freedoms and democratic ideals at a time when these values are brazenly challenged. Liz Goldner is an award-winning art writer based in Irvine. She has contributed to the LA Times, LA Weekly, KCET Artbound, Artillery, AICA-USA Magazine, Orange County Register, Art Ltd. and several other print and online publications. She has written reviews for ArtScene and Visual Art Source since 2009. For further information: Liz Goldner’s Website.

by DeWitt Cheng May 2, 2026 San Francisco, California God Is Not Mocked Vergogna The papacy, GOPMAGA's new satanic scapeGOAT. Donald Rage-Tweets All Night Why Melania has her own Trump Tower apartment. Victory At Sea MAGA Greatest Generation dies nobly to protect the free flow of capital. There She Is, Miss World Peace A tearful, radiant Miss Iran joins President For Life Trump (and a leading Nobel Peace Prize hopeful) in wishing the killing to stop. Bagman-in-Chief Hot mess like never before. Madman Theory — Humor Him Happy End Times! Okay We Folded Flood the Strait of America! Back to the Stone Age Another day that will live in infamy (along with 2/28). The Climactic Holy War All our troubles, soon be over. DeWitt Cheng is an art writer/critic based in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has written for more than twenty years for regional and national publications, in print and online, He has written dozens of catalogue essays for artists, galleries and museums, and is the author of “Inside Out: The Paintings of William Harsh.” In addition, he served as the curator at Stanford Art Spaces from 2013 to 2016, and later Peninsula Museum of Art, from 2017 to 2020. In 2025 he relaunched SquareCylinder with co-publishers Mark Van Proyen and Bill Lasarow. For more information: https://www.squarecylinder.com/contributors/dewitt-cheng/