The Art of Politics
This political season is turning into, perhaps, the most interesting of my
lifetime.
On the Republican side we have the oldest man ever to run for first term
president and, if elected, only the second man ever to have been a prisoner
of war become the president. Yes, there was a previous prisoner of war that
became president, Andrew Jackson.
On the Democratic side a historical event regardless who wins the
nomination, a woman or an African-American man. Also on the Democratic side
this nomination has engaged young people like no other in at least 40 years.
Young people and students are working in record numbers to nominate their
favorite and most admired. College students are voting in numbers sufficient
to determine outcomes.
That art and politics have a strong historical relationship is well known.
Political ideas can be complex and daunting and to be able to distil a
message to its most fundamental and express this visually is not a simple
task. Consider the socialist art of the early 20th Century. Posters of
strong, healthy working people, men and women, linked arm in arm with their
tools in hand looking up to the sky. This message used so cunningly was
meant to convince people that that would be better off in a cooperative
state, and looking up into the sky was looking forward to the future.
However, as with the Enron logo, looking up and forward can also look off
balance and falling backward depending on interpretation and hindsight.
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A review of political art should include Socialist Realism
A review of the Propagandistic Art of Great Britain during the first world
war demonstrating the use of images to influence behavior, to cultivate anger,
and to inspire patriotic feelings. The long history of anti-war art
including Picasso's Guernica, that Colin Powell felt a need to cover over
for his presentation at the UN, proof of the power of imagery. Students
should of course be taught to critically deconstruct political images and
they should also be taught to create images that reflect their own yearnings
and hopes.
Salon Online Magazine has provided a wonderful analysis of the messages
contained in the images of the current campaign, I will quote briefly ³the
Obama symbol is literally and figuratively sunny. a white sunrise
against a blue sky, over a landscape implied by red and white stripes a
symbol of hope.
Students should be able to consider and express themselves in relationship
to a candidate, an issue or a political situation. Once the student has
chosen key words that define their position to a subject or person the
student can begin generating images that relate to their key words. When
issues reach the levels of popular culture interest, the opportunities to
engage students in artistic projects related to the current zeitgeist should
not be missed. The opportunities to introduce students to look at the world
around them in new and in compelling ways can increase interest and
activities. Yes, they studied the Second World War in history but in their
art class they can view the political upheaval through the political art of
John Heartfield and his criticism of the Nazi regime through collage. What a
brilliant example to introduce students to as Heartfield is the creator of
the forms that protest art would take in the sixties and through today in
posters throughout the urban environment.
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