Golub (1988) | The Canvas Takes Shape

Leon Golubs massive canvasses depict scenes most of us would prefer not to see mercenary killings, torture, and death squads. Golub offers not simply a profile of a painter with a political conscience, but an investigation into the power of the artist to reflect our times and to change the way we think about our world.

This one-hour film juxtaposes scenes of violence and political repression around the world, statements by American politicians and others, the responses of viewers to Golubs exhibitions and an extended sequence capturing the artist at work. In his New York studio, he creates a huge canvas that depicts a brutal assassination a reminder, he says, of U.S. subsidized activity in El Salvador.