Antiwar art’s least admired work drew the largest audience

Evidence

The least loved yet most popular work was the huge Collage of Indignation, for which local artists were invited to “paint, draw, or attach whatever images or objects that will express or stand for your anger against the war.” Composed of twenty 10-by-6 canvas panels affixed with a clutter of paintings, statements, graffiti, and found objects, the Collage was displayed at NYU’s Loeb Student Center, where it was visited by an estimated 10,000 people. — J. Hoberman, Everything Is Now, 1052

Categorization

• SEED: A possible essay angle: the crowd-pulling power of amateur, collective, invitation-style art over curated individual works — and what that says about audience vs. critics’ taste.