Profiling a trio of contemporary graphic artists and one master printer, Manfred Kirchheimer's savvy doc situates its politically engaged subjects as the heirs to Goya, Daumier and Dix. While the film's history-heavy approach occasionally ignores the changing role of visual arts in the public life from the past to the present, Art Is... does offer up compelling portraits of practicing artists intelligently probing their status as socially conscious image makers. It doubles nicely as an in-depth look at the physical process of creation, tying it all together via insight into their individual processes, along with a generous visual samplings of both classic and contemporary works. Vive la revolution!
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Watch the trailer