} for The Turn of the Tune - Traveler Playing the "Arkansaw Traveler", for The Arkansaw Traveler – Scene in the Backwoods of Arkansas, The Turn of the Tune - Traveler Playing the "Arkansaw Traveler", The Arkansaw Traveler – Scene in the Backwoods of Arkansas. CollectionsOn ViewArtistsExhibitionsFavorites. + '' Just two days before the 2016 presidential election, Zoe Leonard read her iconic poem, “I want a president,” at New York City’s High Line Park, documented for posterity on YouTube. Collection of the New York Public Library; Funds from the Estate of Leroy A. Moses, 2005. pagetypeurl = document.URL, Nearly three decades after Zoe Leonard wrote her iconic “I Want a President” poem in response to Eileen Myles’s presidential bid alongside George H.W. Jordan in the Hallway, 1986/97. Stay in-the-know about happenings at the Museum! + '<\/style>' + '<\/div>' $modal.show(); The artist's 1992 work has had a special resonance since the election of Donald Trump. if (!found) { Nearly three decades after Zoe Leonard wrote her iconic “I Want a President” poem in response to Eileen Myles’s presidential bid alongside George H.W. if (!window.jQuery) loadJQuery(); The artist’s 1992 text work, written in celebration of poet Eileen Myles’s ‘openly female’ presidential bid that year, begins: ‘I want a dyke for president. All Rights Reserved.var w = Math.max(document.documentElement.clientWidth, window.innerWidth || 0), Courtesy: The High Line. The artist’s 1992 text work, written in celebration of poet Eileen Myles’s ‘openly female’ presidential bid that year, begins: ‘I want a dyke for president. }); break; “I want a dyke for president,” wrote artist and activist Zoe Leonard in her 1992 text piece, a prose poem and manifesto of sorts. var expires = "expires="+d.toUTCString(); sensitivity: 50, I want a person with AIDS for president and I want a fag for vice president and I want someone with no health insurance and I want someone who grew up in a place where the earth is so saturated with toxic waste that they didn’t have a choice about getting leukemia. validate: function( $form, $email ){ + '' $.ajax({ Ink on onionskin paper, glass, and L pins, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, 2019.15, to (Hauser & Wirth, New York, NY), 2018; purchased by Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR, 2019. } var c = ca[i]; Zoe Leonard‘s beloved 1992 text work I Want a President was revived in the lead-up to the election of Donald Trump in 2016 and now, just after the midterms, it’s getting new life again—this time as a series of 100 prints, half of which are reserved for museums only. // Show email validation error and hide other errors // Hide the errors }, 100); Leonard’s missive continues: “ I want someone who has spent the night in the tombs and had a cross burned on their lawn and survived rape. 2016 High Line Art, 'I want a president', New York NY Hauser & Wirth, 'In the Wake', New York NY. Born and based in New York, and working in a variety of media since the 1970s, Leonard’s best-known art may be her 1992 poem “I Want a President,” repurposed as a monumental mural on New York’s High Line park in 2016. $('#ouibounce-modal') // Init - Anything you want to happen onLoad (usually event bindings) return o; contentType: 'application/json; charset=UTF-8', The text is emblematic of Leonard’s involvement with activist and feminist collectives; she began working in New York City in the 1980s, an era marked by heightened political awareness due to the enormous loss of … Zoe Leonard, I want a president, 1992, wheat-pasted paper, 240 x 360". timeout: 10000 This is a conceptual question. slideInModal('Up'); } (function defernl() { if (prefix == undefined) { $form.find('.errors').children().hide(); .addClass( 'slideIn' + upOrDown ); function closeSignupBar() { var ctx = this; } The work leverages her hunger for honesty into a scorching political aesthetic: “I want a dyke for president,” the missive reads. var ctx = this; closeSignupBar(); General admission to Crystal Bridges is always free, and is sponsored by Walmart. Zoe Leonard is a New York City-based artist, feminist, and activist. Outside of "I want a president", Leonard works primarily in photography and sculptures, often designed for the particular installation site. onSuccess(); expiration_days: 14 “I think that what’s going on in the text is both a real call and a metaphoric one. setTimeout(function() { }; $form.find('.signup-failed').show().siblings().hide(); }, var $modal = $('#ouibounce-modal'); if (!onSuccess) { customSerializer: function(){ Zoe Leonard created this work in 1992, the year that poet Eileen Myles ran for president as an independent candidate alongside George H.W. // Submit the form }); e.preventDefault(); setTimeout(function(){ $(function() { Crystal Bridges Trails and Groundsare open daily from sunrise to sunsetand during museum hours. $.each(a, function () { found = true; } Wikimedia Commons has media related to Zoe Leonard } + '