Norm Magnusson (born March 20, 1960) is a

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

-based

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

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 t ...

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 a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

, 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 between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

(Franklin Furnace Artist's Book Archive), The Springfield Museum of Art, The

Anchorage Museum of History and Art The Anchorage Museum is a large art, history, ethnography, ecology and science museum located in a modern building in the heart of Anchorage, Alaska. It is dedicated to studying and exploring the land, peoples, art and history of Alaska. The mu ...

, The Museum of the City of New York

Museum of the City of New York A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these i ...

, The New-York Historical Society

New-York Historical Society The New-York Historical Society is an American history museum and library in New York City, along Central Park West between 76th and 77th Streets, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The society was founded in 1804 as New York's first museum. ...

, 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 The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum is located in Ridgefield, Connecticut Ridgefield is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. Situated in the foothills of the Berkshire Mountains, the 300-year-old community had a population o ...

'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 (born April 23, 1954) is an American filmmaker, author and left-wing activist. His works frequently address the topics of globalization and capitalism. Moore won the 2002 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for ' ...

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 financial assistance to individual working artists of established ability. It was established at the bequest of Lee Krasner, who was an American abstract expression ...

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 Political artists

See also

References

External links