The Provocateur’s Art: MASHUP with guest curator adman extraordinaire, Bill Hillsman It seems everything is tinged with politics these days. And why shouldn’t it be? As a politically aware rock group once sang, “These are strange days, indeed.” Art can be about beauty. It can be about provocation. It can be about edification. In fact, these days edification requires that you be provoked. One of my favorite political candidates was badly misunderstood by the press and by much of the public. The key to understanding him, I kept telling people, was to know that he considered himself a professional provocateur. He also considered himself an artist—an artist of mayhem perhaps, but an artist nonetheless. The trade he plied before politics he called “ballet with violence.” Having seen both occupations up close, I’m convinced professional wrestling is no more fake than today’s politics and punditry in our current partisan, poisonous political climate. So here’s to these artists, these provocateurs among us: you with the insight to see what is really going on and the courage to make the rest of us see.—Bill Hillsman Bill Hillsman is the founder of and the driving force behind North Woods Advertising, and the genesis for some of the most successful and attention-getting marketing campaigns over the past decade. Bill's commentary on marketing, advertising, and politics has appeared on the editorial pages of The New York Times, The Today Show, National Public Radio, CNN.  He has also been named one of Minnesota's "100 Most Influential People" and one of the "100 Smartest People In Minnesota" by Minnesota Law & Politics, as well as one of "100 Minnesotans To Watch" by Minneapolis-St. Paul magazine. Most recently, he has been profiled in The New York Times Magazine, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, PR Week, George, Salon, and Slate, which dubbed him "the world's greatest political adman. Past clients include the late U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone, former Governor Jesse Ventura, and U.S. Presidential candidate Ralph Nader. Current clients include Texas gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman, Connecticut U.S. Senate candidate Ned Lamont, Massachusetts gubernatorial candidate Christy Mihos, and Californians for Fair Elections (Yes on Proposition 89).  Bill’s book, Run the Other Way: Fixing the Two-Party System, One Campaign at a Time, was published in 2004. You can see his very clever current commercial work for yourself on YouTube: Ned Lamont (CT U.S. Senate candidate): “Speaking for Bush”, “Messy Desk”, “Underdog” Christy Mihos (MA gubernatorial candidate): “Heads Up” Californians for Fair Elections: “Arnold Opposite”, “Take a Pounding” Kinky Friedman (TX gubernatorial candidate): “Clean Energy, Clean Government”, “Cowboy Way”  

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Devoted specifically to Hillsman's own projects and appearances.

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