A fit of whimsy seems to come over the illo on holidays—at least, on the tribal ones like Superbowl Sunday and, in Thursday's case, St. Patrick's. Joshua Gorchov is allowed to take flight, producing a painterly work that draws its rainbows from the Art Deco arc motifs of Robert Delaunay and its beefy politicians' hands, from, well, I thought first of the earthier work of George Grosz. Then, in a move that I must imagine is original with Gorchov, he has the hands gesturing, Vanna-like, at a giant Irish Power salute. For those playing at home, furrow your brows and see if you can come up with a snappy exegesis on what this all has to do with Thomas Fleming's recollection of Irish pride forged into a cudgel at the ballot box. Here's mine: With the Bush Administration's embrace of crony-ish practices at the federal level, it's now easier to question the wholesale condemnation of ethnic city machines by reformists like LaGuardia and his successors. What was The Organization, after all, but an ebullient expression of community empowerment? And it sure did breed some loyal voters.
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