Artist: Carlton Clark
Artist: John Freeman
Artist: AnonymousOK, so, here’s the thing: The plight of the homeless should never be viewed as “art” in some standoffish, ooh-look-how-pretty-this-is way. Obviously. But that’s not what the gallerists here are trying to do — instead, they’re using the art gallery format as a way to provoke folks into confronting the reality of homelessness (these artworks are, in fact, the real signs made by real homeless people) in ways they otherwise wouldn’t have. And the results are truly provocative: