Political art does not exist, unless one’s conception of the political either features the sign as the agency of social change, or privileges the acquisition of information as a kind of political consciousness. Representations in art of the political, however, abound. It is precisely the willful confusion of these two registers—coupled with and fortified by the institutionalized separation of art and social practice—that sustains and legitimizes the practice of so-called political art.

The critical and curatorial celebrations of such art generally suppress the difficult and embarrassing contradictions

This was an old-style exhibition: two works, both straightforward, both site-specific. Perry Roberts’ monochromatic drawing occupied one entire wall of the gallery (approximately 70 by 15 feet). The rectangular shape of the wall was framed with a broad black band, and the enclosed white area was then divided into three equal parts by two more horizontal strips of the same width as the frame. Finally, these white bands were themselves divided into three by dropping two black strips from the ceiling to the floor. The overall effect was that the wall was overlaid by a schematic window frame.

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