DOWN BY LAW

Down by Law brings together a family of bad men and women, a parade of wrong behaviors, illegal practices, suspicious faces, and corrupted minds. Assembling works by fifty-four artists from the 1930s onward, Down by Law presents a gallery of mug shots, police sketches, menacing portraits, and twisted icons, both celebrating and degrading the dark heroes of the American Dream.

From the dusty days of the Wild West to the current fear of the Middle East, American culture has been hypnotized by the adventures of lonesome warriors and legendary outlaws. Among the subjects featured in this show are bandits, criminals, mavericks, fugitives, and cowboys, along with thugs, rebels, terrorists, suspects, celebrities, martyrs, convicts, law enforcers and lawbreakers – basically, the scum of the earth. Mixing Jesus with the Unabomber, Bonnie and Clyde with George W. Bush, Down by Law explores America’s obsession with order and its fascination with disobedience.

Down by Law is organized by the Wrong Gallery, with Cecilia Alemani and Jenny Moore, on the occasion of the 2006 Whitney Biennial: Day for Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Jan. 21 – May 21, 2006).

Initiated in 2002, the Wrong Gallery is a nonprofit, no-budget initiative run by Maurizio Cattelan, Massimiliano Gioni, and Ali Subotnick.

Edited by:

The Wrong Gallery

Year of publication:

2006

English / Paperback / 12 x 16,5 cm / 32 pages / 12 b&w