Art has many purposes. It celebrates truth and beauty and enriches our lives in many ways. One important role art can play in our lives is to make us think, to stir us up and generate discussion and debate, promote and introduce ideas by way of social or political commentary. In that sense art plays a very important role in the free and democratic life we enjoy in our country. It can help us examine, define and refine our core values, making us better citizens as a result. What do YOU think? Here's an example:
Robert Arneson American, b. Benecia, CA, 1930-1992
GENERAL NUKE, September, 1984 glazed ceramic and bronze on granite base 78"x 30"x 37"
Inspired by the ceramic sculptures of Joan Miro and Peter Voulkos, Robert Arneson turned to that medium in the late 1950s. He quickly developed a humorous style of portraiture, especially self-portraits, in punning, ironic or mocking modes. Yet, after confronting a diagnosis of cancer, the artist redirected his art in the early 1980s to address nuclear holocaust at a time of escalating armament by the two superpowers. Conceived when the United States and the Soviet Union temporarily abandoned negotiations on arms control, GENERAL NUKE presents a caustic, denigrating stereotype of a military leader. With bloody fangs and a phallic MX "peacekeeper" missile for a nose, the snarling head wears the helmet of a three-star general, which is covered with a global military map incised with abbreviations for the available nuclear weapons: ICBM, IRBM, ACLM, SLBM. Some inscriptions ridicule those who, in Arneson's view, foster war, while other markings provide facts about the impact of a one-megaton bomb ("Fallout: lethal 600 sq. mi., death risk 2000 sq. mi."). Even the pedestal is part of the message, for the head stands on a bronze pedestal depicting hundreds of charred, stacked corpses, resting on a base of granite - a material traditionally used for memorials.
Text adapted from "Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden: 150 Works of Art" (1996), entry by Valerie J. Fletcher
4 comments:
ok i commented this really long and now its not here!?????? grr
Huh... usually, if you press refresh, the comment appears. Thats definitely a bummer, Kelly.
As for the post, I would say that the arts do serve the valuable function of being a kind of social barometer. However, in the article by Robert Hughes that I linked to brings up an interesting point- that there is a mistaken belief "that visual artists get to sense things before anyone else, that they are uniquely equipped with social antennae that tell us what's wrong with the world before other folk can cotton on to it."
(Some)Artists reflect the world they live in. These historical artifacts are clearly a valuable aspect of art making. Others still paint women in 19th century dresses on seashores...
I drew a face of this recently, and thanks to you I can see it again. I remember seeing it as a kid and thinking it was great. It's no longer on display at the Hirshorn Museum. Shame.
My version from memory can be found at www.ethanfaces.blogspot.com. It's number 10.
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