Norm Magnusson (born March 20, 1960) is a New York-based

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...

and

political activist A political movement is a collective attempt by a group of people to change government policy or social values. Political movements are usually in opposition to an element of the status quo, and are often associated with a certain ideology. Some ...

and founder, in 1991, of the art movement ''funism''; he began his career creating allegorical animal paintings with pointed social commentaries. Eventually became more and more interested in political art and its potential for persuasion. This led him away from the canvas and into the public realm where he created short videos that ran on U.S. national television prior to 2004's U.S.

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

, viral emails and roadside historical markers with contemporary social content. The markers are part of the artist's proposed "New York State Thruway Project". Scheduled for 2012, it will place one marker in each of the 27 rest areas up and down the length of the NYS Thruway. In the permanent collection of The

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

(Franklin Furnace Artist's Book Archive), The Springfield Museum of Art, The Anchorage Museum of History and Art, The Museum of the City of New York

Museum of the City of New York The Museum of the City of New York (MCNY) is a history and art museum in Manhattan, New York City, New York. It was founded by Henry Collins Brown, in 1923Beard, Rick. "Museum of the City of New York" in to preserve and present the history ...

, The New-York Historical Society

New-York Historical Society The New York Historical (known as the New-York Historical Society from 1804 to 2024) is an American history museum and library on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. The society was founded in 1804 as New York's first museum. It ...

, The Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, The Pember Museu

and numerous other public and private collections; he has exhibited at these museums and for many years before it closed, at the infamous East Village, Manhattan, East Village-born Bridgewater/Lustberg Gallery in NYC. His sculptures of historical markers were shown as the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum's 2007 Main Street Sculpture Project, a show entitled "On this site stood."aldrichart.org
/ref> In his review of that exhibition for The New York Times, Ben Gennochio called Magnusson "The

Michael Moore Michael Francis Moore is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and author. Moore's work frequently addresses various Social issue, social, political, and economic topics. He first became publicly known for his award-winning debut ...

of the highways" for the very liberal "unsparing and pitiless candor" of his art, which focuses "our attention on pressing contemporary social and political issues." He has also created a body of nature-based work entitled "Decorating nature" in which he paints on rocks and leaves and trees and photographs them in their environment. He was honored with two

Pollock-Krasner Foundation The Pollock-Krasner Foundation was established in 1985 for the purpose of providing funding to visual artists internationally to further their artistic practices. It was established at the bequest of Lee Krasner, who was an American abstract expr ...

grants (in 2016-2017 for sculpture and in 1998-1999 for painting) and a grant from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council in 2008 for the realization of "On this site stood - lower Manhattan" a project to put 'historical' plaques with contemporary social content around lower Manhattan in summer 2009. (link below) In 2014, he received a NYSCA grant (through the Center for Sustainable Rural Communities) for a public art installation in Schoharie County, NY. In 2015, he was awarded a NYFA fellowship for sculpture. He has acted in numerous feature length and short films (see imdb.com page below, in "References" section) and is currently the host of "Correct Me if I'm Norm", a once a week internet radio interview program on RadioFreeRhinecliff.org.

References

* Beasley, Jim, Norm Magnusson, American Painter. Springfield, MO: The Springfield Museum of Art, 2000. * Borum, Jennifer, Norm Magnusson Travelogue. New York, NY: Bridgewater/Lustberg Gallery, 1997.
The first published reference to funism, from New York's The Villager, August, 1992

Second (and better) published reference to funism, from New York's The Villager, September, 1992

* ttp://www.wineandbowties.com/art/decorating-nature-by-norm-magnusson/ Wine and Bowties article on Magnusson's Decorating Nature series
Designboom article on Decorating Nature

The artist's imdb.com credits page

External links

The artist's website (funism.com)

Artist's blog detailing plans for On this site stood - lower Manhattan

The artist's I-75 Project website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Magnusson, Norm 1960 births Living people American contemporary artists American political artists

See also

References

External links