Pablo Helguera offers one of his signature Artoons to us, the simple pen and ink drawings captioned with poignant and incisive wit, revealing ironies, stupidities, and truths of the art world in one concise gesture. Pablo and Ted knew each other for many years, their lives and work overlapping at conferences, in publications, and in the world.

Helguera has been making Artoons for over a decade; they have been published in three volumes, and shared widely online. This particular Artoon was made for an entry in the Open Engagement conference blog. In it he also writes:

"When we speak about socially engaged art (SEA), the problem with value can be summarized in two questions: If I make an aesthetically compelling work that is ineffective as a social experience, is it still valuable? And alternatively, if I create a social experience that is only called art in a nominal way, why should it have any currency in the art system?"

An integral figure in the practice and discourse of socially engaged art, Helguera has realized projects all over the world, from collaborations with major institutions to the invention of his own; employing performance, experimental pedagogy, musical and literary strategies, sociological research, and more in ways that blur the experience of life, art, politics, and education. In addition to his work as an artist, and as the Director of Adult and Academic Programs at MoMA, New York, he is the author of many books, including the widely influential "Education for Socially Engaged Art."


http://pablohelguera.net/


http://pablohelguera.net/2009/02/artoons/


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