{"data":{"id":"3436","type":"artist","attributes":{"id":3436,"topgoose_id":2602,"tms_id":3436,"display_name":"Sue Coe","sort_name":"Coe Sue","display_date":"1951–","begin_date":"1951","end_date":"0","biography":"\u003cp\u003eSue Coe’s message in \u003ca href=\"/collection/works/7749\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eAids and the Federal\nGovernment\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e is grim and unambiguous:\nthe AIDS epidemic—personified in dozens\nof lifeless bodies sprawled on the ground—\nwas neglected by the country’s leaders,\nsymbolized by the US Capitol Building\nlooming at the top of the image, and\nthe cropped, smirking face of an apparent\npolitician or anchorman on a television\nscreen in the foreground. Coe suggests\nthat American military involvement in\nthe Persian Gulf following Iraq’s invasion of\nKuwait in 1990 came at the expense of\naddressing the domestic health crisis, which\nthe etching’s caption identifies as the\ntrue enemy. The image’s threatening sky,\naustere palette, and severe figural\nrenderings reinforce its ominous sentiment,\nand evoke the charged agendas and\nstark representational modes of art-historical\nantecedents such as social realism and\nGerman Expressionism.\n\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBritish-born, Coe moved to the\nUnited States in 1973 and worked\nas a freelance newspaper and magazine\nillustrator at periodicals including the\n\u003cem\u003eNew York Times\u003c/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eTime\u003c/em\u003e, and her art\nevinces a journalistic concern with truth\ntelling and straightforward communication.\nMotivated by what she has described\nas “the idea that art can be used to speak\nfor those that cannot,” her paintings,\ndrawings, prints, and mixed-media works\ninvolve extensive research and have\ninvestigated social and political injustices,\nsuch as apartheid, wartime torture,\nsweatshop labor, and cruelty to animals.\nCoe’s art embodies activism; she hopes\nthat her moving images—often disseminated\nthrough publications—will not only\nprovoke emotional responses but also\ngalvanize protest and positive change.\u003c/p\u003e","on_view":false,"artport":false,"biennial":false,"collection":true,"ulan_id":"500005739","wikidata_id":"Q7634046","created_at":"2017-08-30T17:28:30.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-04-13T07:04:00.126-04:00","links":{"artworks":"/api/artists/3436/artworks","exhibitions":"/api/artists/3436/exhibitions"}}}}