Arnold Mesches
The FBI files 31
2001
22.75 x 30.25 inches
Acrylic, photo and linoleum on paper (Framed)
David & Schweitzer Contemporary
Arnold Mesches (1923-2016)
“It’s become clear that [Arnold Mesches’s 2002 exhibition] ‘The FBI Files’ was ahead of its time. As life in America has become increasingly defined by post-9/11 surveillance, FBI files have emerged as a surprising yet legitimate medium for artistic expression. The pervasiveness of being watched by the state creates a vast anxiety, our world filled with concrete artifacts of declassified and leaked materials. As more artists have embraced these primary documents over the past decade and a half, their artistic processes have filled in the gaps created by government redactions.”
– Liz Pelly, “How Arnold Mesches Turned His FBI SURVEILLANCE FILES Into Eerily Prescient Works of Art,” The Intercept, 2017