Art As Social Protest

Most of his creations represent history and society of his time. But “Guernica,” which Picasso painted in response to tragedy and the loss of life, directly related to the Spanish civil-war. “Guernica” was one of the masterpieces created by Picasso, probably the 20th century 's most negative symbol of the horrors. It was a also signal for the terrors of the future. When the Nazi troops dropped a bomb on the Basque village of Guernica in northern Spain, at that time nobody imagined this kind of act in reality. Most

After the Mexican Revolution, which took place from 1910 - 1920, Mexican art saw a change in the type of art being created. Although the focus of creating art with an indigenous and Mexican theme continued, the country saw a shift to art presenting socialist ideals. The government saw value in working with local artist and commissioning them to create murals that would influence their political agendas. However, what these murals mostly did was strengthen the Mexican culture and bring pride to the indigenous heritage. Although this time period has come and gone, its influence over Mexican art and culture is still very apparent today and can even be seen in Mexican American communities today.

Murals are the quintessential public art embodying the spirit of the community in which they are created. They say this is who we are, this is what we think, this is where we come from, and this is what we want, reflecting most clearly any changes in the sociopolitical environment. Murals lay out a powerful visual image of the ideology of their creators or sponsors, be it the Church during the Renaissance, government funded projects, or individuals expressing opposition. In Mexico, after the Mexican Revolution of 1917, the government commissioned a vast number of mural projects to transmit its revisionist history of the country, and celebrate the empowerment of the underclass in their recent victory. Predominate themes were cultural

Throughout the picture Diego Rivera’s palette consists of an ample array of reds, greens, and white as the dominant colors. One can sustain he employed these pigments. Due to the fact they are the colors of the national flag. The color white represents the purity of the hearts of the Mexican people; the red represents the blood lost during the multiple wars that Mexicans fought, until they conquered their independence. Finally, the color green represents the hope that Mexico, as a free

Mexican artists, more than most other artists in the Americas, exemplify the political and social obligations of artists. According to Soltes (2011), several Mexican artists of the early twentieth century were inspired by the revolutions and political unrest occurring in Mexico, which was reflected in their work. Diego Rivera (1886-1957) considered one of Mexico’s Renaissance artists, influenced by European avant-garde style, painted Zapatista Landscape (1915). This work was done as Rivera’s tribute to the Mexican revolutionary “Emiliano Zapata who had played a key role in the 1910 Mexican Revolution that had overthrown the then President Porfirio Diaz” (Soltes, L43, 4:42). Soltes (2011) describes this work: “very clearly we see a rifle; we see it's a sarape, together with a very stylized backdrop of water, mountains and sky, punctuated by a work that seems largely to emulate the synthetic cubist style of Picasso and Braque that we've earlier discussed. One has the allusion indeed, that we are looking at a collage of geometric forms made of diverse materials imposed against that background of vague sea and sky”(L43, 4:13).

As a placebo for a changing guard, La Virgen de Guadalupe proved highly successful. The iconic image of La Virgen de Guadalupe remains static in both form and symbolism until the mid twentieth century, when a new movement among Mexican-Americans emerges in California, dubbed the Chicano movement. As visual propaganda becomes a large part of the movement, a significant body of art with common themes and styles, known as Chicano art, follows. This shift in subject matter among Mexican-American artists toward a specific social and political agenda began earlier, as evidenced by the work of Rivera, Orozco, and Posada, but, it isn’t until the mid 1960’s that national or religious iconographic images are recycled to support a larger political or social agenda.

     Public art conquers so much more than the simple task of making the street a little easier to look at. It involves those who created it, those who supplied the means to create it, and those whose lives it continues to impact. Wall paintings in particular take an important role in working for a greater good. Judith F. Baca, a Hispanic-American woman and artist- activist has contributed an unaccountable amount to the mural movement in Los Angeles. She has accomplished this by giving individuals the chance to create art and develop a sense of pride, she has taught younger generations a respect for their ethnic identity, and from the many walks of life that continue to view her

Diego Rivera was a Mexican painter and muralist who greatly changed the art world. He didn’t care what other people thought about his art and he painted what he saw, not what others wanted him to see. It was his’s creative manner and approach that set him apart from other artists; it was what made him one of the most renowned artists that existed during his time period. This paper will present the

Artist Joe Stephenson created “Sin Un Pasado, No Hay Futuro” mural located on 2nd Street and Gold, Downtown Albuquerque, in August of 1994 to convey the lesson we are forever frozen in time without the knowledge of our past. Together we can achieve greatness in our future with the guidance of the past. It’s a sad thing when a culture, or tradition is forgotten and lost in time. This mural is showing us how important it is to preserve New Mexican history, culture, and traditions for generations to come and the negative impact it can lead to if we fail to do so.

Activists make their messages and movements known through art in order to express messages, validate identities, and to make struggles known, calling themselves ARTivists to show that there is an often undervalued intersection between the two. But before the coining of the term, activists have been creating art to advance themselves and their communities. ARTivists within the Chicano community have especially been creating art in order to validate and record their own experiences. ARTivism is crucial in today’s society and culture as it intersects art and politics in order to emphasize injustices that are deeply rooted within these structures. By decolonizing and deconstructing exploitive structures, ARTivists liberate the oppressed while creating a more socially conscious future by allowing the oppressed to create their own voice and tell their own stories.

Political unrest and ethnic pride cover the walls of the Estrada Courts housing complex in Boyle Heights. Murals representing the social unrest of the time are depicted on the eighty plus murals in this community. A random housing complex is not necessarily the place you'd think of finding murals, but these murals carry a much grander meaning. The history they carry is part of the beauty within the art itself. Constructed during the 1940’s during WWII, because of the housing shortage of the new industrial spike, the Bracero program really initiated the artistic move from these murals. Coming in from Mexico, hispanics and Chicanos were of the minority at the time. They were not seen as equal rather as just temporary workers during the war to later be sent back.

Hispanic art, food, and entertainment all have a common theme; they are all fun, light-hearted, yet fulfilling and rich in cultural heritage. On one side, Mexican culture in particular loves to make fun of itself. There are many depictions in song and art of lazy Mexicans in large sombreros with thick mustaches eating burritos. On the other hand artists like Diego Rivera paint large murals depicting rich historical events like the revolution, in bold colors on controversial topics (This Old, n.d.).

Art is a catalyst of change. It can confront both social and political issues as well as providing people with a creative outlet in which they can express their innermost thoughts and feelings - but what effect can art have on our society as a whole? Artists today have the unique ability to connect with people in a creative, innovative way that they can understand and interpret themselves. With this ability, artists are able to express their own views as well as influencing the views of others. Art is an immense part of our world – so much so that we barely even consider its impact upon us – but just how significant is the work of artists in our modern day society?

I will be doing a creative project about political art with the intention of creating a portfolio which will capture the current state of American politics. I chose this topic because throughout the presidential election, I observed the way candidates and their supporters used visual images to to support their causes. When I participated in the Women’s March On Washington, I was blown away by the creative, funny, and powerful signs I saw. Throughout this year, I found that the one thing almost everyone in my life agrees on is that it was the we are living in an extremely polarized country and time. I want to take senior exploration as an opportunity to convey this intense political climate. I chose to use art, as opposed to writing or music, because I really enjoy it and do not think I will have the opportunity to do much art after high school.

Is art a form of self-expression from the artist to their audience? Self-expression is defined as, “the expression of one's feelings, thoughts, or ideas, especially in writing, art, music, or dance.” (English Oxford Dictionary). The source of inspiration for art is unknown for certain, but it is commonly believed that it comes from inside the artist, based on their life lessons and experiences. If the inspiration comes from within, then artists are expressing themselves through their art, thus art is self-expression. There are innumerous forms of art, from writing to dancing; singing to creating a drawing, public speaking and everything in-between. A person who is whistling is expressing how they are feeling through the notes that they hit. Someone who is drawing can use darker colors, such as browns and blacks to give off an eerie tone. Does that mean that all art is self-expression? No, not all art is self-expression, maybe it isn’t self-expression at all. This leads to the debate over whether art is self-expression if the inspiration comes from an outside source, rather than from within.