A lot of artists are "for the cause" of whatever they claim their art symbolizes and while promoting advocacy of issues is definitely helping, I've always seen it as a bit of a cop out. I mean what's easier, spending time out in the community helping the homeless or piling up thrown out food in the center of a gallery? Whether or not you believe in the cause, making art, for the most part, does not directly help said cause. In fact, a lot of art considered "activism" or containing social statements not only doesn't directly help in and of itself, the entire concept is usually unknown to the many viewer who the artist is supposedly informing.
With that said, there are many people who actually do their part in actually supporting the cause so don't get me wrong there, just pointing out that making a painting about the homeless doesn't mean you are helping the homeless.
Anyways, what brought about this is the attached article which talks about Thomas Hart Benton, who happened to teach a young Jackson Pollock, and his "flood" piece which sold for 1.9M this last weekend. That's not the awesome part though. The painting is based off a huge flood in 1953 and Benton actually used the piece to raise awareness of the devastation, inform lawmakers and perhaps even influenced the President to sign the flood relief bill. Not everything he did worked, but the fact that he went past the painting and really lobbied to get help for the people shows how much he was affected by the disaster. Read the article below and next time you make a piece meant to display support of a cause, maybe take that extra step and truly make a difference.
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/43094951/ns/us_news/
No comments:
Post a Comment