THE CIA AB-EX PSYOP REPORT - audio fixed ;)
Added 2021-10-17 19:29:18 +0000 UTCFor this report I tried to do something a little different by combining different sources to create a brief history of US government involvement in art from ~1935-1960. The end of the report features my own takeaways from the subject. Here are some of my favorites I came across while researching:
1. Frances Stonor Saunders - The Cultural Cold War
this is a great book I drew on for the Cold War section of the report– highly recommended!
2. Serge Guilbaut - How New York Stole The Idea of Modernism
this is a super granular account of the political motivations of Modernism's various cultural factions I drew on for the 1930's section of the report
3. Eva Cockcroft - Abstract Expressionism, Weapon of The Cold War
this 1974 essay is really the original one to break the topic wide open in the art world. It's fun (and sad!) to see a time when writing in Artforum could be so thought-provoking, concise, and intelligibly written.
4. MoMA as a weapon of National Defense! press release from 1941
one of the cool things about researching this subject was how transparent MoMA's digital archive was about their various WW2 (and to a much lesser extent, Cold War) activities. Thanks MoMA!
bonus: Mommy's Museum's National Defense Poster Competition
extra bonus: I thought it was fun to read this MoMA published book/extended press release about the 12 Americans show to see how much institutional statements have changed over the past 70 years
5. Lucy Levine - Was Modern Art Really a CIA Psyop?
here's a nice, link-packed overview of the historical moments Saunders touches on in greater detail– but if you want a quicker read this is perfect
6. Clement Greenberg - Avant Garde and Kitsch
7. Meyer Shapiro - The Nature of Abstract Art
Comments
link died :-(
Anonymous Patreon user lol
2025-11-05 01:45:10 +0000 UTCI used to work for Adbusters and we published some of your early work. Glad to see we have both moved on in many, many ways.
Easton West
2024-01-20 18:36:02 +0000 UTCFantastic.
Bebe Montoya
2023-08-03 02:53:37 +0000 UTCI would wear that every day
Rachel Harrison
2022-03-08 00:24:40 +0000 UTCLoved this video. Have you thought of making a video on the sudden influx of slime companies and how it impacts art? Or the influx of artists producing stuff to sell on Etsy made with the same 3 cursive fonts, on a sweatshirt using a cricut machine? The sudden influx of artists making candles in the same 10 designs flooding the market of consumable, easy to purchase popular art is something I would for you to make a video on. Hopefully that is what the Selfie Report will be about (or at least slightly).
Abby B.
2022-03-05 23:09:44 +0000 UTCI enjoyed this but I noticed you seem to hold a different view point of museums in this video than you did when you made the kaws video. Is this just because of learning through your research on this subject and others?
JP
2021-11-30 03:07:43 +0000 UTCcan you make a t-shirt that has a Rothko plastered on the front, with a caption in all caps that reads "Manifest Destiny"
Jacob Cohen
2021-11-03 18:03:00 +0000 UTCcan you make a t-shirt that has a Pollock plastered on the front, with a caption in all caps that reads "Rockefeller"
Jacob Cohen
2021-11-03 18:01:13 +0000 UTCat the end when you mention how a nation's cultural prestige correlates to superpower status, and that you expect the wheel to turn for Chinese art soon, it reminded me of how the Rubell family went to china 2 years ago and bought like 50 museum-scale works from a few dozen artists on the speculation that now is the moment to buy cheap...
Jewel
2021-10-31 19:03:29 +0000 UTCyeah, what about all those surrealist/dada artists coming to ny from paris when the nazis invaded, they had a big influence on ab ex
N
2021-10-23 02:55:33 +0000 UTCthanks! I hadn't thought to try reverse image search.
Daniel
2021-10-22 13:46:59 +0000 UTCDefense of Sevastopol by Alexander Deineka. Or so my reverse image search says.
TK
2021-10-22 11:31:50 +0000 UTCpainting ID @ 13:30?
Daniel
2021-10-21 23:51:21 +0000 UTCThat’s it. I’m closing my free enterprise business.
Yes
2021-10-19 03:56:14 +0000 UTCMy girlfriend’s dad (who was born and raised in the USSR) loves telling me the story about how Khrushchev called a famous abstract painting “fucking gay”
Mao Zedong Superstar
2021-10-19 03:15:04 +0000 UTCThat's a spicy one, love it.
Karol Wawrzyniak
2021-10-18 21:17:55 +0000 UTCSorry I hit reply too fast. I don’t think these things really mess with your thesis too much, but they feel a little like an oversight in how you discuss New York and its prestige. I don’t necessarily think it’s based solely on AbEx and the money/government agencies and programs behind it.
Null_null
2021-10-18 16:08:04 +0000 UTCI would like to better understand your timeline of modernism and NY as an art capital. I always understood the 1913 NY Armory Show as putting NY on the map internationally. And there was also 291.
Null_null
2021-10-18 16:05:10 +0000 UTCBrilliant report good sir! 🧐
okkaori
2021-10-18 15:27:32 +0000 UTCInteresting. You leave out a lot of the backstory development of modernism. Also the only reason Pollack career took off was that Mondrian noticed one of his pictures in Peggy Guggenheim’s group show. That’s not necessarily a secret spy thing. Also what about the American Abstract Artists Group and Ad Reinhardt? Also what about Hilla Rebay and her work at the Guggenheim? https://www.guggenheim.org/history/hilla-rebay
Nathan Rutkowski
2021-10-18 01:04:05 +0000 UTCOK just uploaded the audio fix should be good to go
Brad Troemel
2021-10-18 00:55:04 +0000 UTCgod I wish I was CIA
adrian
2021-10-18 00:27:34 +0000 UTCexcellent work, thank you for making these Brad!
Fia
2021-10-17 23:59:53 +0000 UTCYes Brad
Dylan
2021-10-17 23:27:57 +0000 UTCI hear ya- gonna fix right now. Thanks for the heads up
Brad Troemel
2021-10-17 22:59:15 +0000 UTCSound design is a bit fucked on this one
Yup
2021-10-17 20:56:27 +0000 UTCThank you for doing these, Brad. Some of the best content I've come across. Big love
Jason Clar
2021-10-17 19:31:10 +0000 UTC
