I Want You

2008 - Film & Video (Film & Video)

Tony Labat


Commissioned by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and riffing on the “I Want You” army recruitment campaigns of the 1930s and 1940s, Labat asked Bay Area residents to interpret the slogan and make their own demands of the public in a series of live performance auditions. Given one minute to seize the voice of authority, contestants were asked to be the finger-pointing Uncle Sam, and their performances—as on the TV program American Idol —were voted on by a live audience. Five winners were chosen and their image and slogans appeared on posters throughout San Francisco to coincide with the presidential elections. A video of all auditions premiered at SFMOMA on election night.


Since the early 1980s, Cuban-born Tony Labat has been an important participant in the California performance and video scene. A pioneer in video installation, his work often identifies with the “outsider,” whether the artist or the immigrant and comments on displacement and marginalization. Labat has exhibited internationally in venues including the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Laguna Art Museum; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels; the National Gallery of Poland; the Helsinki Museum of Art; the Tel Aviv Museum of Art; and the National Gallery of Greece, Athens.


Colors:



Awaiting Enacted
© » KADIST

Roman Ondak

2003

This work needs to be considered in relation to one of his performances during which people were made to queue in front of the Kunsthalle of Frankfurt in 2003 (Tate Collection)...

Slowed-down Journey
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Roman Ondak

2003

As the caption purposely admits, these drawings were made by friends of Ondák’s at home in Slovakia asked to interpret places he has journeyed to...

Stanley "Tom" Durrell, Tinsmith
© » KADIST

Sharon Lockhart

2008

Lockhart’s film Lunch Break investigates the present state of American labor, through a close look at the everyday life of the workers at the Bath Iron Works shipyard—a private sector of the U...

quadroquadro (círculo)
© » KADIST

Renata Lucas

2016

Lucas’s quadroquadro (círculo) employs familiar materials for the artist: wood, paper, and glass...

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No Title
© » KADIST

Félix González-Torres

1992

Behind the simplicity and beauty of this untitled photograph of a brilliantly-colored flowerbed by Félix González-Torres are two remarkable stories of love, loss, and resilience...

Map (from Uncertain Pilgrimage), 2006-2009
© » KADIST

Gareth Moore

2006

Uncertain Pilgrimage is an ongoing project in which Moore draws from his unplanned travels in recent years...

Ed Ruscha's Poetry of the American Experience
© » ART & OBJECT

Ed Ruscha

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No Title
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Félix González-Torres

1992

Behind the simplicity and beauty of this untitled photograph of a brilliantly-colored flowerbed by Félix González-Torres are two remarkable stories of love, loss, and resilience...

Map (from Uncertain Pilgrimage), 2006-2009
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Gareth Moore

2006

Uncertain Pilgrimage is an ongoing project in which Moore draws from his unplanned travels in recent years...

Teapot with shadow
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Hans-Peter Feldmann

The types of objects Feldmann is interested in collecting into serial photographic grids or artist’s books are often also found in three dimensional installations...

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Leading Collector of Middle Eastern Art to Sell Dozens of Works at Sotheby’s - via ARTnews
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Abdulrahman Al Zayani is selling more than 80 works by Middle East artists....

The Power of a Poem
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The Power of a Poem | ArtsEquator Skip to content Zakir Hossain, a celebrated poet and migrant worker in Singapore, wrote a poem, which sparked a response from the state...

Sabanci Museum Exhibit Explores Life, Art of Abdülmecid Efendi - via Daily Sabah
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The new exhibition of Istanbul’s Sakıp Sabancı Museum showcases Şehzade Abdülmecid Efendi's deep influence on Ottoman art life with a unique......

Liu Wei: China’s Trickster Mixer-Upper
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Liu Wei: China’s Trickster Mixer-Upper – ARTnews.com Skip to main content By Barbara Pollack Plus Icon Barbara Pollack View All February 26, 2014 5:00am When the Rubell Family Collection opened its doors with an exhibition of 28 Chinese artists in time for Art Basel Miami Beach last December, one of the stars that emerged from the show was Liu Wei , whose brand of geometric abstraction surprised many Americans looking for more stereotypical hallmarks of Chinese art ...

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Sirens
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Paul Kos

1977

Taking its title from the eponymous mythological creature—famously featured as sea nymphs in Homer’s Odyssey...

Sound of Ice Melting
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Paul Kos

1970

Sound of Ice Melting is based on the ancient Zen Buddhist koan about the sound of one hand clapping...

Lightning
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Paul Kos

1976

Parked on the shoulder of a single lane highway running through a desert landscape, Marlene looks over her shoulder from inside the car at a fierce storm looming over a distant horizon...

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M+ Museum Pulls Three Politically Charged Works From Exhibition Dedicated to Works from Swiss Collector, Spurring Speculation of Censorship - via ARTnews
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The museum said the removal of the works, one of which references the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, were part of a routine rehang....

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White Raven
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