Baseball's politics and history, as orange crate art

Sour oranges
Originally uploaded by vegacura.

Ah, Los Angelenos, the Vega is jealous. If you live in Southern California, this sounds like a great show to see.

As Sakoguchi became more immersed in creating a series that could encompass the entire history of baseball and its relationship to American culture, he found themes and subjects similar to those he had explored in his non-baseball OCA paintings. And in this collection, he has brought those themes home with a vengeance.

Of the 120 paintings in the series, 26 (22%) deal with subjects pertaining to questions of race or racism. Nine of these deal with Jackie Robinson and various aspects of his career. However, these are far from the most pointed examinations of the issue: for that, we must turn to Sakoguchi’s “tribute” to Cap Anson, one of the pillars of nineteenth-century baseball, whose 3000-hit, Hall of Fame career is eclipsed by his echoing command on one summer day in 1884: “Get that ###### off the field!”

Many more really amazing images at the link, above, which also has links to further images.

The show, at the Da Vinci Gallery in Los Angeles City College, runs until March 4