Word: realism
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Creeping Thing. McGovern workers in Chicago were confident, despite adverse polls, that their man had a fighting chance now that they had Mayor Richard Daley on their side, lock, stock and poll watchers. They prided themselves on their realism, a fact verified by a Daleyite who was prepared to hate the kids until one showed up "so full of vim and vigor and so willing to listen to my advice that I guess I softened." As Columnist Mike Royko mused, Daley, after his humiliation at the Democratic Convention, "has to enjoy seeing all those admiring liberal faces looking...
...preoccupation with abstract art seems to have temporarily ceased. And for those of the general public who have felt innundated, if not bored by, this ten-year bombardment of squares and stripes, the show entitled Recent Figure Sculpture at least provides an incentive to return to the museum. Realism in art has re-emerged, and in this case it is a realism both humorous and shocking. Even the person who feels he has to be entertained by art exhibitions should enjoy it. Debates will undoubtedly continue as to whether these sculptures are art, but the viewer can decide for himself...
...pieces in the show the term "realism" cannot express the painstaking accuracy involved in making the figures exactly like human beings. Not only does the "Woman Cleaning the Rug" by Duane Hanson have real spectacles on her nose, a real Dynel wig on her head, and a real bandaid on her shin, but her vacuum cleaner is plugged into a socket in the wall. The very technological feat of creating the illusion of a woman's flesh out of synthetic polyester and fiberglass becomes the most significant thing about the sculpture. The subject matter is almost secondary. One becomes obsessed...
...most intriguing pieces in the show are those in which the artist used realism for the more intelligent purpose of communicating an idea about society. And these artists find something in society to criticize. Certainly the most powerful image in the show is the massive figure of a man clothed in black leather struggling to free himself from the belts and zippers that contain him everywhere. Perhaps it can be interpreted as a commentary on repression or even some avid libber's dream of a future society in which men's mouths and genitals are zipped tight...
...Cold Realism. For all the good humor, there is likely to be less warmth than cold realism in the resumed Sino-Japanese dialogue. "The two societies are radically different," reminds Harvard Asia Scholar Edwin Reischauer, a former U.S. Ambassador to Japan. "I do not see them drawing close together merely on the basis of being Asian." Peking wants some specific things from Tokyo, notably access to Japan's modern technology. But the two capitals are mainly concerned with each other's place in Asia's emerging four-power equilibrium. The Chinese, who opened the way to last...