New cover 

Curator: This pen and ink drawing, titled "New Cover" and created by Sue Coe, certainly packs a visual punch, wouldn’t you agree? Editor: Absolutely. My first thought is that this piece really assaults the senses; the exaggerated Uncle Sam figure towering over those oxen feels both unsettling and charged with meaning. The ink strokes feel almost violent. Curator: Coe’s strategic deployment of caricature immediately brings the symbolic to the fore. Consider how Uncle Sam, whipping these chained oxen, is positioned in stark contrast to the tottering stack of corporation stones. There’s a binary opposition established between national image and corporate power. Editor: And a really dark image. Those poor beasts look weighed down, burdened by what seem like miniature human figures struggling beneath them. The entire composition screams oppression, you know? Curator: It does; Coe expertly blends the narrative with elements of social realism. The careful inscription of corporate logos—Monsanto, Wal-Mart, even VISA—on those stones anchors the piece to very specific, tangible targets of critique, doesn’t it? It’s not merely about critiquing *power*, it’s a commentary on *this* power structure. Editor: It’s really aggressive, this picture. Like, in your face angry. Even the word “Bully!” stamped so prominently across the image, removes any doubt about the artist's intention here. Is there much subtlety in play? I'm not so sure. Curator: Subtlety may not be Coe’s objective. There’s a raw immediacy at play, meant to provoke a response. The high contrast achieved with stark ink strokes emphasizes the brutal relationship between capitalism and labor as figured here. One might argue that her approach to modernism subverts the concept into something more directly representational than abstract. Editor: You know, I almost wish it had been subtle! Still, it does bring attention to these systems and asks questions that maybe polite art avoids. Like, who benefits and who suffers? Even in its bluntness, it works because of its emotional impact. It made me gasp when I first looked at it! Curator: Precisely, and that visceral reaction is integral to Coe’s practice. We should recognize this piece not as a polished aesthetic object, but as a deliberate visual argument intended to mobilize sentiment. Editor: A grim, provocative statement that gets its point across effectively even if the message itself leaves a rather sour taste in one's mouth. I'll not look at an OXO cube ever again.