“When Smoking Was Cool” is the new art exhibit at the Black Maria Gallery in Glendale (3137 Glendale Blvd). It opens Saturday, October 17 (with an artists reception from 7 to 10 pm) and runs through November 14. “When Smoking Was Cool” mounts a tongue-in-cheek critique of the American propensity for legislating social behavior. While the exhibition touches on the fanatical obsession with lifestyle reform, which makes taboos of behaviors such as smoking and alcohol consumption, it focuses its broadside on the hidden motives and powerful interests behind the politics of social legislation. Featured artists include Paul Chatem, The Pizz, Shark Toof, Anthony Ausgang, Sarah Stephens, Stacy Lande, Christine Karas-Gough, Shannon Keller, Brett Manning, Harry Sudman and more.

“Control and profit are at the heart of the issue,” said Sam Saghatelian, curator of the exhibition and himself an artist, in a recent press release. “No thinking person today would argue against efforts to discourage harmful behaviors such as tobacco and alcohol addiction. Yet what’s glaringly lacking in political discourse is a serious examination of who stands to gain, in terms of power and profit, from various regulatory measures or prohibitions and why.”

Saghatelian said that “When Smoking Was Cool” also broaches the moral ambivalence and hypocrisy of punishing a particular segment of society – e.g., users of tobacco and alcohol products – in the name of public health. He explained: “Shouldn’t we tax golf courses? After all, their maintenance takes up an enormous amount of electricity and water, contributing to the depletion of natural resources and global warming, which in turn impact the health of the public. Or how about taxing the beef industry, whose practices are a top contributor to climate change, not to mention obesity and heart disease? But nobody would dare suggest taxing the powerful beef industry – yet. As for taxing golf courses, the idea would just be dismissed as laughable”.

“Instead, local governments and Washington alike can and do raise taxes on tobacco almost at will, since smokers as a demographic have been so thoroughly vilified that they themselves wouldn’t think of protesting disproportionate taxation. The point is that governments and corporate interests often single out targets for the legislation of social behavior because it’s politically and financially expedient to do so, and not necessarily for the wellbeing of the public as they claim. ‘When Smoking Was Cool’ sheds light on these issues to its hearts’ content, with a lot of humor and irony.”

For more information on this exhibit, visit www.blackmariagallery.com

Image Courtesy of Black Maria Gallery

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