Jonathan Horowitz (b. 1966)

Since the early 1990s, Jonathan Horowitz has produced a body of work that combines the recognizable imagery of Pop Art with the critically-engaged mindset of Conceptualism. His 2012 work Your Land / My Land continues in that same vein of conspicuous, if not approachable, social commentary. Referencing Woody Guthrie’s folk song “This Land is Your Land,” the work relates to the series of exhibitions that the artist staged in November 2012. The exhibitions, which were hosted simultaneously at seven museums across the United States, allowed for people to come together, watch coverage of and discuss the 2012 presidential election, with incumbent Barack Obama facing off against former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. At each location, blue and red carpeting, symbolizing America’s color-coded bipartisan political system, were placed on the floor to divide the gallery spaces into opposing zones. Meanwhile, television monitors broadcast live feeds of Fox News and MSNBC to their respective audiences. The result was a politically-charged atmosphere in what the artist suggested were otherwise apolitical environments: “I certainly think that museums can play a role in political discourse, and they have in the past more so than they do today” (J. Horowitz quoted by R. Kennedy, “Voting Against Ruffled Feathers,” New York Times, 1 November 2012, p. AR1). For Horowitz, Your Land / My Land established an opportunity for the institutional art world to stimulate a dialogue between art and politics, and to encourage society to think more critically about the political world of their future—a message that still carries weight today.