An exploration of Leon Golub’s artistic career and politics through a double bill of documentaries offering unique insights into the artist’s life and times.
Serpentine Cinema presented two documentaries about artist Leon Golub. The screening included Golub: Late Works are the Catastrophes (1988, with a new section from 2004) by Gordon Quinn and Jerry Blumenthal of Kartemquin Films. Juxtaposing scenes of violence around the world, politicians’ statements, audience responses to Golub’s paintings and shots of the artist at work, Late Works are the Catastrophes addresses the political issues at stake in the artist’s oeuvre.
The evening also featured the screening of the 2001 documentary, Leon Golub: To the Dogs by Charlie Ahearn (director of the hip-hop documentary, Wild Style), in which Golub and his wife, fellow artist and activist Nancy Spero discuss political and personal issues of morality.
This screening preceded a symposium on Leon Golub’s work and its relevance in contemporary global politics at the Royal College of Art, Battersea.
