Studio 360

Framing the Debate

How the politics of the past and today inspire art, music, and poetry.

A Jon McNaughton painting depicting Donald Trump crossing a swamp à la George Washington crossing the Delaware, and a Tylonn Sawyer painting depicting black men wearing black-and-white MLK masks.
Crossing the Swamp by Jon McNaughton and Congregation: MLK by Tylonn Sawyer.

Courtesy Jon McNaughton, Tylonn Sawyer

Listen to this episode of Studio 360 by clicking the arrow on the audio player below:

What happens when artists get political? Kurt Andersen talks to conservative painter Jon McNaughton about protest art in the age of Trump. Also, the dramatic use of masks in the paintings of Detroit’s Tylonn Sawyer. Our American Icons series looks at the song “Dixie,” the Confederate symbol that’s impossible to remove. And Roya Hakakian and Reza Aslan on Iranian politics and poetry.

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