Social Injustices In Jack Levine's 'The Arrest'

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Jack Levine’s The Arrest (1983), is the piece of artwork that I have decided to interpret for this paper. When I saw this piece hanging in the Hunter Museum of American Art I was instantly pulled in and wanted to learn more about it. It is a simple painting in composition, but the message I believe it represents is a powerful one. I believe that this painting is a representation of the social injustices that the underrepresented individuals of our society face on a daily basis, and the misuse of authority from those who are in charge in this country.
The Arrest is an oil painting, and it was made in the year 1983. In the painting there are three individuals, two are police officers and the third individual is a prisoner. The thing that grasped …show more content…

Levine also places emphasis on the mask covering the prisoners face by making it large compared to the other images in the painting.
Levine uses these elements help to tell a story. I believe that the story is about the struggles that the underrepresented citizens of our society face with the same individuals who have been trusted to protect and serve them. According to an article written on Levine in the New York Times, “He specialized in satiric tableaus and sharp social commentary directed at big business, political corruption, militarism and racism” (Grimes). This excerpt further convinced me that this art piece was about those with the power being corrupt. When I saw this piece it pulled me in because I immediately thought about all of the cases of police brutality that we have seen in the last year alone. In the painting the two officers have the prisoner in a tight grip on both sides, I think this was Levine’s way of showing who is in control. The people who are in charge and have the power are the ones that hurt and silence our citizens. Not all officers are bad, that is not at all what I am saying, but it just seems like the bad ones stand out more than the great officers that serve us.

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