Art, the voice of individual - Essay Example

Art, the Voice of Individual Introduction Art refers to the expression or application of creative skills and imagination. This, in some instances, is done through a visual medium such as painting or sculpture. Those who endeavor in this discipline are referred to as artists. Artists are part of the society, an implication that thereby makes arts be reflective on the society. The art is a reflection of the society analogy is used as an inference to the fact that artists have their imaginations influenced by the society. Politics, on the other hand, provides governance and order within the society (Benjamin 102). Governance supervises the activities of every member of the society including artists. In the past, oppressive governments discouraged the liberty in arts. This made artists become more determined in expressing their works through creative means. From history, politics have always been in constant conflict with the freedom of expression which, coincidentally, made the industry thrive. Through the criticisms of governments, arts have become so celebrated that today most media houses have a creative editorial on the state of governance, social welfare, and even politics within the societies they exist in. This coincidentally validates W. Benjamin’s claims that political values have led to the development of the modern day art (Arthur 66). Arts and craft are expressions of opinions. This simply implies that the two are authentic and do not require any approval from a third party to be accepted as being so. Freedom provides for the right to hold and express opinions on whichever topic rife within the community. Unfortunately, politics has been one of the most common topics within the society thereby attracting more opinions from the populace. Controversies lead to the development of more opinions from people most of which are negative. This explains why only controversial leaders have always been opposed to the growth and development of arts within their societies. A society, on the other hand, refers to a group of people living together in an organized community. This thus implies that the people in a society share certain aspects of life such as culture, norms, and practices. The order inferred to in the definition of society is instilled by politics. A political system entails a structured system of personalities charged with the governance of a country or a region. There are different types of political structures key among which include democracy. Democracy refers to a type of political system in which political leaders are fairly elected from the society and serve for a period before seeking reelection. The electorate considers the performance of the people interested in the political positions before voting for them. The most important aspect of democracy is that a citizen reserves the right of choice in electing aspirants. Additionally and more importantly, democracy gives anyone in the region an equal opportunity to be elected into positions of leadership. This is the most practiced political system in the world. Another type of governance that was very common in the eighteenth century was autocratic rule. In this type of governance, a political leader turns the form of governance to favor him soon after acquiring power. Some of the world’s renowned dictators included Fidel Castro, Idi Amin Dada, Mohammad Gadhafi, and Adolf Hitler. These leaders allowed no expression of freedom among their subjects. They made all the decisions and executed their implementation. Weak democratic structures easily degenerate into dictatorial governance through the manipulation of the constitution which is the only document capable of instilling discipline into a country. Politics have, therefore, provided much work for artists through time. Artists always tried to make known the political structures of their regions. Successful and democratic leaders are always less controversial and therefore attract very minimal attention from artists. However, the dictatorial governance structures and leaders attract the attention of artists who try to depict them in all manner of forms through either paintings or sculptures. Then only fact that makes it necessary for works of arts to require authentication and approval is that they have developed through time to become means of mass communication. To gain this authenticity, artists joined themselves in groups to have valid names and outfits through which they gain the much sought after authenticity. One such group of artists in the late eighteenth century was the De Stijl (Overy 26). De Stijl was, and still is, a name recognized by many architects and artists world over. Started in 1917, this a homogeneous group of artists who specialized in varied disciplines of arts with such iconic artists as Van Desburg together with Piet Mondrian as well as Bart van der Leck being its founders thus the very first active members (Overy 34). This group was made up of singly performing artists who had to come together to fight the oppression of free expression. Additionally, the group came together owing to their opposition to the widespread adoption of technology in developing artistic images. This, they claimed, threatened creativity in favor of desktop publishing techniques that easily turned every armature into a professional artist. The group believed in conservative expression of creativity through the knowledge of an artist. This meant that an artist had to be an individual born with the art in him. However, the talent had to be integrated with a wisdom and knowledge to translate that which is perceived by the eye into an artistic message. The group’s primary guiding principle was simplicity. Their argument was that it does not take sophistication to make a good artist. Artifacts can be made out of the readily available raw materials and done using the most basic of facilities and in the most predictable manner but still get to communicate the deepest and very original ideas conceptualized by the artist. This is evident in their works; they used mostly primary colors, very basic and common shapes alongside orthogonal shapes to wrap up their messages. In this way, the artists ensured that their works could have a two-fold interpretation. The very experienced could look at the analogies in their works and derive deeper meanings while those that they considered novices would simply hold the face value and still be impressed. In this way, the artists concealed their sophistication in simplicity (Dana 88). Having determined the need to store information and thereby making it available and accessible for the generations that were to come, the De Stijl artists chose their materials keenly with much concern being given to the durability of the material that an artist selects to develop an artifact out of. For drawers, the use of canvas made of rubber was preferred given the fact that rubber could last ages, is rodent proof, and is arguably aesthetic in value. As history holds it, this movement of artists came into being at around the same period as the First World War. Apart from the war, the group also got influenced by the ideas of industrialization and globalization. In such a set up in which there is order and disarray yet in all that is transition, the world demanded more intelligence from artists. The intelligence to coin articles that could convey the hidden meanings intended by the artist without causing agitations from the authority while at the same time not causing confusion at such changing times was paramount. Colors were of much importance with battlefields being market by colors. Colors represented countries and personalities; using one color to depict negativity or positivity would cause anxiety from either side of the divide. This was a knowledge that guided this group of artists that became popular in the designing of posters, books, designs and typographies. What earned them more success was their success in mixing primary colors to come up with a concise piece that communicated just that which was intended without misinterpretation. Most of the works that they did had more than one color. Through their works, the group worked and expressed their opinions on virtually every issue that they deemed necessary without facing much contradiction from the authorities. This was attributable to two factors. First, the group did not involve itself in the country’s politics. Secondly, they operated in fairly democartic societies which included Britain and the larger expanse of Europe (Overy 55). In groups, it became easier to fight and defend the rights of the artists thereby prevent unnecessary oppression from the governmnets of the time. However, some of the claims leveld against artsts were authentic. In as much as every individual is entitled to an opinion, it is also understandable that no single individual’s rights are greater than the rights of the other. It is, therefore, wrong to make falsify claims through the use of art as they communicate to a larger audience. As the political organisation of a country matures by becoming more democratioc and more liberal, the intense artistic crtisism of the governance reduces and artists turn their attention to other issues of more importance within the society such as business. It is also false to assert that artists only thrive in arnachy and mayhem; it is only that in an oppressive societies where people tend to challenge the leaders through being vocal. One way of achieving this is through the effective use of the artistic talent and knowledge. Fusing the siutuations as they are into articulate diagrams or paintings is one such channel of raising both critisism and appreciation (Benjamin 97). In brief, authentication and validation are two importanat aspects of any work. Art is a mode of communication and, just as it is in journalsim where journalists must attribbute their stories to a source, artists need to find a source of truth for the claims they assert in their drawings and paintings. Failure to achieve these issues, possible prosectution on grounds of defamation arise as was the case when the South African president sued a leadeing newspaper in the country for drawing him in a cartoon editorial in a maner that belittled his manhood. Through time, there has been an intense hate filled relationship between artists and political leaders. It is this animosity that largely led to the development of arts and the subsequent quest for authentication by the artists (Benjamin 76). Works cited Arthur, Danto. The abuse of beauty: Aesthetics and the concept of art. Niagara. Niagara University press, 2003. Print. Benjamin, Walter. Underwood. The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. London: Penguin, 2008. Print. Dana, Arnold. Art and thought. Oxford: Basil Black well. 2003. Print. Overy, Peter. De Stijl. London: Themes & Hudson Ltd, 2010. Print. Read More