Week 9 Topic

Week 9-Does your art make any kind of social or political statement? What do you think about art or artists that make social or political statements? Is it the responsibility of the artist to comment on or raise public awareness?

Except as an assignment at this school, I have never created anything with a social or political statement. This is because I do not feel that I know enough about politics to make an informed opinion about political issues. I believe it is the responsibility of the artist to create art that addresses issues that concern them and that they have researched sufficiently. It would be irresponsible for an artist to present a political idea that was not thoroughly researched. Of course, this question assumes that the artist is representing his or her own ideas. In the case of a fine artist this may be true, but we must also take into consideration that an artist may be hired to convince the public of a political or social statement which may be untrue. If an artist is being paid to represents an idea that has political implication which represent a bias they must make their own moral decision. An artist must consider whether or not they agree with the statement they have been hired to present, and if not whether they are willing to present it anyway.