American painter Jack Levine has died. You can find an obituary here in The New York Times. Levine, according to the Times, was adept at 'skewering plutocrats.' His work on the painting I've lifted here - entitled the "Feast of Pure Reason" (1937) - was funded by the WPA. Imagine the government today funding artists to depict the 'patriotic' intimacies that exist between police, politicians and capitalists! In discussions of the economic stimulus spending program there was lots of talk about 'shovel ready' construction projects. No one thought to mention the plethora of 'satire- ready' subjects among the prominent, wealthy and powerful.
