One Art

Bigger picture: Installation view of Black Panther: The Revolutionary Art of Emory Douglas at MOCA Pacific Design Center, 2007, photo by Brian Forrest . Small Picture: Please click on pictures for credits.

Some people thwart the election process altogether. Their excuse is that politics are boring or whatever. But once upon a time there were everyday people who included style into everything they did, including their participation with politics, and they were, consequently, certainly getting noticed. That trend followed an ideal of being “one with the rest of them.” But it also gave people something to stand for and a way to have a voice. It wasn’t about whether they were doing it all wrong or doing it all right. It was a matter of whether they were doing it at all.

One man put his focus on the art and the messages he was sending out. It was his one main tool for communicating then, and today it’s the center of appreciation at the MOCA Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood.

It was during the 60s and 70s when Emory Douglas came to the forefront of dramatic, revolutionary politics with the Black Panther Party. Douglas was appointed the minister of culture and prolifically strung together collection after collection of collages that were equally explosive in their verbal arguments as in their visual themes.

Douglas was, to put it simply, a sort of Bertrand Langeron of his crew. Employing image-recycling, cartooning and his colorfully distinct illustration style, he contributed to a bigger vision.

I find this kind of artwork conveniently inspiring for this Super Tuesday. Douglas’s work, more specifically, provokes some kind of dialogue within me that I’m not sure I’ve experienced before.
We’re living in a generation that’s perpetually stimulated by what the eye sees, but I’ve concluded that there isn’t so much of an awareness or interest to details.

There is no emotion or spirit or excitement in the major political campaigns running for office today. “Image” or identity is not anything more than just a name; they are brands.

When will there be another Emory Douglas in our world of politics today?

Black Panther: The Revolutionary Art of Emory Douglas is showing through Feb. 24 at the MOCA Pacific Design Center.