On Art

I will use the way the American Flag has been painted as an example of the way sentiments and current affairs affecting the globe influence creativity amongst artists. During a time of relative confidence in the society, this is then reflected in the work of the artist. Childe Hassan in Allies Day 1917, for example gave a positive and airy representation of flags hanging proudly yet peacefully and defiant in the air. The colors are bright and airy, and the whole mood is one of hope and prosperity. America the great was to enter the war and smite the negative events which were occurring in Europe at that time. The artist uses oil on canvas; traditional mediums and a method with which many people are familiar.
However, after society changed, the perceptions of the artist changed as well. In his work, for example, Jasper Johns’ Three Flags uses encaustic, a primitive material, to add texture and meaning to his representation of the American flag. When Johns created this work, he did so amongst an environment of fear and uncertainty amongst Americans. The cold war made for a time when many artist questioned their society, and this is reflected in that particular work by Johns. He seems to use this heavy textured way of creating his work as if to say that patriotism can be rough and negative in many respects. Deathridge also uses the same idea in her work God Bless America. She creates a painting which may offend but at the same time inspire, much like the installation What is The World, in which the artist challenges conceptions of free speech and freedom of expression. Deathridge placed her artwork in the context of the civil rights movement and portrayed her emotions in the painting as those of mixed positive and negative feelings towards the establishment. The bars in the painting which make up the American flag trap the subject as if patriotism and racism sometimes, unfortunately, go hand in hand. This painting, like the installation, provides a clear yet at the same time obscure challenge, by way of the medium and the subject matter, to the individual who must go beyond merely ‘seeing the art’.
Art exists to inspire and despair, and the viewer of controversial art or art merely as a celebration of human endeavor, has to realize that the creation of a work of art is the process of emotion felt by the artist. It is not to see art or just to understand it on the surface which is the goal, but it is also important to place it in the proper historical, social, and cultural context in which the work was created. An artist is a human, and thus subject to the vast array of human emotion which he seeks, thru the creation of his work, to instill in the observer of his or her work. This is one of the most challenging concepts for artists as well as for those who see their work to understand.
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