Stalin's Atom Bomb a.k.a. Homosexuality, No. 5 (Courtesy Yevgeniy Fiks and Winkleman Gallery, NY)
I saw this piece in the recent solo show by Yevgeniy Fiks at Winkleman Gallery in New York. The project documents the paranoid conflation of the commie and the queer in 1950s America, by combining images and quotes. That content would be funny if it weren’t so painfully evil and dumb. (Actually, it’s funny despite being evil and dumb, or because it is.)
Of course, as the Supreme Court contemplates gay marriage, the queerbashing may soon be a thing of the past. If only knee-jerk commiebashing would head the same way. I am not now nor have I ever been a member of the communist party … but it sure was useful to have some kind of pro-worker option, however empty and symbolic, to keep the capitalist running dogs afraid and in line. Now they simply run, unleashed, and trample everyone else.
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