Back in 2016, as the country’s political divide cratered into an abyss against the backdrop of a bitter presidential contest, a quartet of art-world friends came together to found For Freedoms. Playing on Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s famed “Four Freedoms” speech and Norman Rockwell’s subsequent series of oil paintings celebrating the freedoms of speech and worship and freedoms from want and fear, the collective sought to promote more civic—and civil—engagement via art.
For Freedoms continued its mission through another an exhibition at the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill, N.Y., on view until November 6. “We believe artists often are on the forefront of critical thought in our society and are the ones who introduce us to ideas and concepts that we might otherwise be averse to,” Thomas says. “This exhibition is just the beginning of that conversation. We say good art asks questions and good design answers them, and the quality of questions dictates the quality of the answers.”
