Indecline: The People’s Prison

01 Apr Indecline: The People’s Prison

Posted at 01:04h in Exhibitions, Past Exhibitions by

INDECLINE
The People’s Prison
April 19 – May 20

On March 30th, 2018, INDECLINE, an activist art collective secretly installed an art exhibit into a rented hotel suite at the Trump International Hotel and Tower in New York City. The exhibit “The People’s Prison” depicts Donald Trump in a prison cell surrounded by American flags. 13 artists have adorned those flags with portraits of prominent voices of dissent, many of whom faced critique, hardship, and (in some cases) assassination, for expressing free speech in the not so distant past.

Proceeds from the sale of the paintings in this exhibition will be donated to the artists’ chosen charities.
The opening reception will feature a special performance. The exhibition will end on May 20th.

INDECLINE Statement

“The imprisoned Trump is not so much the focus of, “The People’s Prison.” Rather, the place aspires to present a more positive view of justice. Surrounding a single cell are a jury of what a selection of artists considered to be some of our greatest peers, painted directly onto the flags they labored to make stand for something greater.

“INDECLINE wants to suggest that freedom is not so much strengthened by the intolerant bigots who might test it, but rather those who test them…those who are willing to risk everything up to life and limb to stand when others might just kneel out of convenience. But history is bigger than any given season, and historically, the greatest heroes have stood for something deeper than politics.

“Our biggest concern is that we, as American citizens – but also on an even deeper level, as Global Citizens – not forget that we are all stranded here on this rock together, and that the greatest crime committed by President Trump is his attempt to profit from and exacerbate the kind of divisiveness that safeguards a true and natural democracy, one that attempts to protect all of its members equally, not draw lines that become margins where those least-represented financially can be quietly swept away.

“We are not purists at INDECLINE. We are not above the occasional joke, a heavy dose of irreverence, or just plain smart-assedness, but we are not politicos either. And we don’t have much use for laws that don’t take much consideration for us, for our brothers or our sisters in whatever shape or form.

“So, lock him up or don’t lock him up. That won’t suddenly solve all of our problems as a people. But we do want to remind him that history is watching his every move as well, no matter what happens with Mueller, with congress, with the voters. And history doesn’t have maximum sentences.”

GALLERY 30 SOUTH Statement

Teddy Roosevelt, the founder of the G.O.P. said, “Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official.”

James Baldwin, perhaps the most eloquent voice of the civil rights movement, said, “I love America more than any other country in the world and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.”

With this exhibition, the artist collective known as Indecline choose to target a controversial figure with controversial materials. Gallery 30 South strongly supports the right of free speech, and promotes the concept of an art gallery as a Free Speech Zone. The First Amendment to the United States Constitution states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

The artists who have participated in this exhibition have chosen to celebrate important, historical figures by casting their likenesses onto a canvas that symbolizes, for most Americans, the core values of this country. It is understood that some may take offense to art that is seen to promote dissent or that could be interpreted as a form of flag desecration, but we would be remiss to not point out that there is no constitutional amendment that prevents the use of an American Flag to make a point, be it artistic or otherwise.

As such the gallery supports the rights of artists to exercise free speech even in cases when their point of view opposes our own. These works all have merit that transcends mere aesthetic and the exhibition is conceptually a worthy enterprise likely to encourage the free flow of ideas and opinions that support and oppose that expression. In the current polarized environment, it is our great hope that hosting this exhibition helps to bridge the gap between parties in support of ideals that were so important to our founding fathers that they recorded them first and above all others as basic rights for all.

Click here to link to the official Indecline website.
Click here to link to the Panik Collective website.
Click here for local coverage of this exhibition.
Click here for the Rolling Stone report.
Click here for the Vanity Fair article.
Click here for the Artnet coverage.

Purchase Inquiries

Matt Kennedy
Gallery Director
323 547 3227
info@gallery30south.com

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