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Art in Review: 'The Presidency' 
October 22, 2004
By Ken Johnson

Exit Art 
475 10th Avenue, at 36th Street 
Chelsea 
Through Nov. 21 

''The Presidency,'' a selection of works by 41 left-leaning artists, could make you decide that artists should keep their art and their politics separate. It looks like a student show and ranges from mildly amusing to irritatingly predictable. Almost nothing in it will make you think in any deep or unexpected way about its theme.

One piece that does have some poetic resonance is an audio work by 31 Down Radio Theater, in which a voice that sounds a little like President Bush's sadly and humbly intones a litany of apologies for things he has done, from running for president to invading Iraq. It is surprisingly moving. 

Arbuzo Virtmanis's large reconstruction in corrugated cardboard of the president's bedroom on Air Force One is one of the few visually interesting works. And an animated video cartoon by Packard Jennings, in which President Bush and members of his cabinet say things they would presumably say if they were completely honest, has a fine deadpan humor. 

Among the many annoying works are a picture of the White House painted in feces by Francis Michael Palazzolo; straitjackets made of American flags by Lisa Charde; Liselot van der Heijden's video of a State of the Union Address in which all the president's words except America have been edited out; and, by the Guerilla Girls on Tour, a poster favoring the election of a female president.