March 9, 2021
“Encompassing our past six presidents and some of their opponents, Presidential Manipulations serves as a historical document, creative experiment, and enduring political satire. ”
Florence Weisz, 41 Bushart Shrubbie #9, Xerographic collage color and b/w copier prints, 10 x 8 in, 1992
(Banner image: Florence Weisz, Obamart: Flag, Archival print, 16 x 20 in., 2009)
Much Needed Satire: florence weisz’s Presidential Manipulations
By Amie Potsic
Presidential Manipulations is Florence Weisz’s four-decade retrospective of political artwork – the embodiment of her political activism and perspectives on the administrations of six presidents: Reagan, Bush Sr., Clinton, Bush Jr., Obama, and Trump. Given the tumultuous nature of the transition of power in our most recent presidential election, Weisz’s collages documenting, critiquing, and roasting each president serve as evidence of the peaceful transitions and political humor we depend upon in the United States. Her work is a welcome opportunity to interact with those in power and to exert our own influence on the political dialogue.
With Trump having lost the recent 2020 presidential election in hyperbolic fashion, Weisz's forty years of satirical artwork about American Presidents culminates in high drama. Looking at Mr. Trump's record on insurrection, civil rights, a free press, and separation of powers, Weisz's work is a visually direct, witty, and poignant view of Trump’s attempts to undermine the United States government.
Through her use of rye humor and uncanny wit, Weisz investigates candidates, policies, and our current state of world affairs. Weisz takes the likeness of a presidential candidate or sitting president and alters it offering the viewer a chance to reconfigure the faces that we so often feel like we already know. The body of work consists of over sixty photo-based collages, including interactive installations that incorporate interchangeable “face-parts” of politicians. Her work charges audiences with the task of manipulating the installations using the politician’s own features.
Weisz says of her work, “I began this series in 1980 to express my distress that Ronald Reagan was elected to the presidency of the United States that year. Since then, I have added to the series during each American president's term, including the Trump administration. Most works begin with a portrait of the president, which I divide into a grid of nine squares. I replicate, rotate, reverse, and re-arrange the features in various permutations - funny, satirical, expressive - to create new versions of the well-known face. I have been interested in the exposure and over-exposure, the fragmentation, and the ultimate distortion of public figures. I find this exploration even more compelling and cathartic now, in our hyper-partisan America.”
Weisz’s creative response to the last forty years of presidential administrations lays bare the continuity of our system of government while giving the people a hand in political manipulation. Providing audiences the opportunity to interact and change the expressions of the presidents is a refreshing antidote to the sense of powerlessness we often feel in the face of politics. Encompassing our past six presidents and some of their opponents, Presidential Manipulations serves as a historical document, creative experiment, and enduring political satire.
Presidential Manipulations by Florence Weisz
Florence Weisz, 45 Trumpart: Constitutional Crisis, Digital print, parchment facsimile of US Constitution and Constitution shredded in strips Collage by Florence Weisz Trump photo by David Paul Morris /Bloomberg/via Getty 22 x 22 in, 2017
Florence Weisz, 42 Clintonart: My Lips Are Sealed, Xerography, 10 x 8 in, 1995, Framed Size: 15 x 13 in
Florence Weisz, 46vs45 Biden and Trump and You - Bipartisan Interactive Installation, Color and b/w digital prints, 32 x 67 in, 2020
Florence Weisz, 40 Reaganart Totem Sculpture - FDU Installation, Xerography, 40 x 10 x 10 in, 1986
Florence Weisz, 40 Reaganart: Interactive Aljira 1984 DETAIL, Xerography, 8.5 x 8.5 in, 1984
Florence Weisz, 40 Reaganart, Xerographic collage Newsweek Magazine cover photo and black/white copier prints, 22 x 22 in, 1981
Florence Weisz, 40 Reaganart: The Book, Xerographic collage color and black/white copier prints, 8.5 x 8.5 in, 1983
Florence Weisz, 45 Trumpart: Covid–45, digital collage, 10 x 8 in, 2020
Florence Weisz, 41 Bushart Shrubbies, 9 collages - 10 x 8 inches each, Xerography, 1992
Florence Weisz, 42 Clintonart: Hillary - Icon Iconoclast, Xerography, 26 x 26 in, 1994
Florence Weisz, 43 Bushart Jr: W-USA, digital collage, 31 x 31 in, 2004
Florence Weisz, 44 Obamart: Looking Out for Us II, digital collage, 10.5 x 8 in, 2009
Florence Weisz, 45 Trumpart: Fake News, Digital print, newspaper, shredded newspaper, 20 x 20 in, 2017
About the Artist
Florence Weisz's primary medium is collage. She has explored many subjects over the years, abstract and figurative. She creates her own distinctive materials and searches for innovative ways to express each visual theme. Her media have included xerography, alcohol-based ink collage paintings, assemblage, mail art, ceramic tile murals and digital imaging.
Weisz has exhibited her art in the US and abroad. Among the venues hosting her one person shows are: The Newark Museum, Jersey City Museum, Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, Pierro Gallery of South Orange, NJ, Kent Place Gallery, Barron Arts Center, Johnson & Johnson World Headquarters, Chubb Corporation Gallery, John Harms Center for the Arts, InLiquid Gallery, Fairleigh Dickinson University and New Jersey City University galleries.
Weisz's work has been included in group exhibitions at the New Museum of Contemporary Art, Studio Museum of Harlem, Franklin Furnace, BACA Downtown, Pfizer Headquarters, Zim-Lerner Gallery, Katonah Museum in New York; DaVinci Art Alliance, CFEVA Center for Experimental Visual Artists, InLiquid Gallery in Philadelphia; Reading Museum, Mainline Art Center, Wayne Art Center, Cheltenham Center for the Arts, Salas University, in Pennsylvania; throughout the State of New Jersey including Aljira Gallery, City Without Walls Gallery, Walsh Gallery at Seton Hall University, Monmouth University Galleries, Printmaking Council, AT&T, Bell Labs, Nabisco, A.J. Lederman Gallery, and the Morris Museum, Monmouth Museum, NJ State Museum, Trenton City Museum, Jersey City Museum, Bergen Museum, Newark Museum and Princeton University Museum.
Her artworks are in the collections of The New Jersey State Museum, IBM, The Port of Authority of NY and NJ, Citibank, Warner Lambert, Schering Plough, Gibraltar Securities, City Federal, Depfa Bank, Ciba-Geigy, Marriott Hotels, The University of Pennsylvania Hospital and E.I. du Pont de Nemours.
She has completed site-specific commissions for private homes, corporate and public spaces including, Chubb Insurance, PSE&G, Centocor, Merck Sharp and Dohme, Schering Plough HealthCare Products, Three Stamford Plaza and the Municipality of Beer-Sheva, Israel.
Born in New York, Florence Weisz studied in Paris and Jerusalem after earning a degree in Fine Art from Douglass College, Rutgers University. She is a recipient of a New Jersey State Council on the Arts Fellowship Award.
For more information, visit: www.florenceweisz.com and www.presidentialmanipulations.com