Jonathan Horowitz

Maybe before modernism, art was already Pop. Art looked more like the world, and the opposition between art and communication wasn't so pronounced. After Abstract Expressionism eradicated representational imagery. Pop returned art to a grounding in the real--though by then, the real was less realistic. Pop spoke in familiar pictorial languages--even if just to say, "Look, a cheeseburger!" To me, this was the most radical thing about Pop art: It attempted to communicate clearly. In recent years, my work has become more political--and more pop. Politics and pop in art are often seen as opposed, one sincere, the other ironic. But in the real world they go hand in hand. Politicians are like movie stars, when they're not actually movie stars. And like Pop artists, politicians must be skilled communicators, often lauded for words rather than deeds. Perhaps Dubya, who can barely speak at all, is an Abstract Expressionist, his actions producing incomprehensible horrors in red.--AS TOLD TO DOMENICK AMMIRATI

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