The sleep of reason produces monsters. Plate 43
There is an unexpected gem of a show in the middle of Orange County; “Los Caprichos†is a complete set of 80 first edition etchings by Spanish artist Francisco Goya savagely skewering a formidable (and depressing) range of human vices and folly. The book page size of each etching rewards prolonged looking with virtuosic technique and guilty recognition that the wicked human foibles depicted two hundred years ago are the same ones a political cartoonist might lampoon today: corrupt priests preying on young boys, mothers selling daughters into prostitution, and greedy politicians stuffing their own pockets. The chronological order of the prints in the gallery gives the effect of flipping through a naughty cartoon book very, very slowly – if you can handle the cringe factor, you may even chuckle out loud (CSU Fullerton, Fullerton)