m. rosetta hunter art gallery is pleased to present...

Pornography of Power:
The Anti-War Art of Selma Waldman
September 22 through October 24, 2008

“I am an artist . . . enamored of charcoal (the tool that does not lie) and the act of drawing. . . Although both charcoal and pastel can be fragmented, crushed, and reduced to dust in a single arbitrary or careless moment of time, both of these media can project into visual art potent and sensuous powers of endurance that will resonate with the same epic, intimate, universal and demonic obstinacy as life itself.”
Selma Waldman

Following the most recent declaration of the “War on Terror” in 2001, Selma Waldman, (1931-2008), an artist with a life-long commitment to social justice, created an extraordinary series of 100 drawings, The Black Book of Aggressors, a profound and relentless response to the degradation of human beings and the systematic abuse of power in Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, and elsewhere. Two “walls” from this series, along with earlier work, comprise Pornography of Power. With searing line and jarring color, Waldman explicitly exposes the atrocities of war.

The exhibition also includes a selection of earlier works, selections from her notes and sketchbooks, and an evocation of her intense working environment including an unfinished work surrounded by photographs, notes, and sketches.