You see, in my opinion the so-called non-political Andy Warhol was the most political artist of the twentieth century. Sure, you might hang his work in a Hollywood villa or in the Reichstag, but you probably don’t know what’s hanging there on your wall. Great art can’t be functionalized, it resists. Andy Warhol’s genius is his positioning - something that most political artists forget about. They are hovering in the air and showing us something. They got some calling, but from whom? They forget they have a body themselves that is positioned in this society. Awareness of your position in society seems to me a quality that could significantly improve political art as a genre (Jorg Heiser mentioned above, is white male, just in case you were wondering). Awareness to differences in context would help too. Warhol’s genius is also his humour - which is not a haha-humour that goes at the expense of others. Not that haha-humour is a problem that political artists in particular suffer from. Most of the time they are so serious about themselves and their art work in their quest to change the world that it bores me out of my mind. But maybe that is something that we should bear in mind: it might sound a little cheesy and "we are the world" but artists should use their skill for the benefit of mankind and for the betterment of the world - they should, shouldn't they? Andy Warhol's answer: "I'm trying to."
Art and Politics, Politics and Art
You see, in my opinion the so-called non-political Andy Warhol was the most political artist of the twentieth century. Sure, you might hang his work in a Hollywood villa or in the Reichstag, but you probably don’t know what’s hanging there on your wall. Great art can’t be functionalized, it resists. Andy Warhol’s genius is his positioning - something that most political artists forget about. They are hovering in the air and showing us something. They got some calling, but from whom? They forget they have a body themselves that is positioned in this society. Awareness of your position in society seems to me a quality that could significantly improve political art as a genre (Jorg Heiser mentioned above, is white male, just in case you were wondering). Awareness to differences in context would help too. Warhol’s genius is also his humour - which is not a haha-humour that goes at the expense of others. Not that haha-humour is a problem that political artists in particular suffer from. Most of the time they are so serious about themselves and their art work in their quest to change the world that it bores me out of my mind. But maybe that is something that we should bear in mind: it might sound a little cheesy and "we are the world" but artists should use their skill for the benefit of mankind and for the betterment of the world - they should, shouldn't they? Andy Warhol's answer: "I'm trying to."