Democratic Principles Exhibition's Washington, DC debut at historic Woman's National Democratic Club
May 24th - September 30th, 2011 (click here more more information)
Read 6/8/11 Washington Post feature article
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"Art is not propaganda. It is truth." John F. Kennedy, 1960
Elizabeth McClancy paints the faces of social crises that are either off the radar or insufficiently understood. As Peter Frank, Senior Curator of the Riverside Art Museum, noted in "To Be Self-Evident: Purpose, Principle & Portraiture,""McClancy subscribes passionately to Marcel Duchamp’s dictate that 'the viewer completes the work of art,' and, further, that the work of art’s own history completes it as well. That is to say, the work of art incorporates its own history and future. ...Taking the bull by the horns, McClancy has decided to devote her art, and the process of its being made and seen, to affecting [social change]."
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright Elizabeth McClancy. Oil on canvas. 18" X 24"
Her art, its exhibition and, ultimately, its distribution are strategically designed to promote awareness and support of front-line social change organizations who address the crisis in question.
McClancy's debut series, "Democratic Principles," includes paintings of 22 contemporary progressive leaders and each one's statement on a cherished principle of American democracy. In no way intended as a "tribute" to these leaders, her purpose is to create a space for them and for us to consider "principles worth fighting for; principles worth dying for; principles worth losing an election to defend." (E. McClancy, "Preface to the Plates," Democratic Principles, 2008) Her upcoming series partners with Special Olympics and other front-line nonprofits to paint the faces of intellectual disability. The exhibition is scheduled to debut in March of 2013, in Washington, DC.
PLEASE USE THE ABOVE LINKS TO VIEW THE PAINTINGS OR TO ACCESS OTHER INFORMATION.