Seize the Art!
There is an old adage, to whom the owner is forgotten to me, that states: “To erase one from the past, one must erase their work”. Art goers and non-alike always find themselves passing through various art museums, awe inspired by the work completed by men and women from the past. While all may be aloof at the beauty of art that they happen to stumble on, there is always the important forgotten notion that art is something that one finds from within and not something that is cheaply manufactured. In order to understand how to appreciate art, one must first define art. While art cannot be defined for many, but for the sake of art, we will define it as the product of deliberating arranging functions in a way that stimulate an individual either positively or negatively (Maraviglia). Art is the creator’s expression the feeling that they desire to express about themselves or even about society and culture as a whole. While many believe art only comes in the form of paintings, art actually comes in many forms, from dancing to statues, from graffiti to tattoos, from portraits to propaganda, and from paintings to books. However, a question that people rarely ask themselves is, “How do I react to art I don’t like or agree with”? While art is something one personally finds appealing, we have recorded events of those who sought to destroy art that doesn’t agree with them and destroy those whose works does not agree with the current trend.
In 1930’s Germany, The Nazi Regime made an effort to eradicate any form of art that didn’t adhere to the Nazi ideology. The 1930’s Book-Burning saw 34 university towns burn 25,00 town burn any book that did not fit the narrative(Hasselbach). In 1950’s America, Senator Joseph McCarthy called for the removal for books he deemed to be “too left-leaning”(Noor). The answer as to why these two events are important in relation to art is how one approaches art that one may disagree with and the extent one will go in order to remove it. Three points to understand about the importance about the events taken place are as follows:
1. Controlling expression of thought and dictation as to what is acceptable and what is not. Regimes from various countries have always sought to collect and destroy art that is, to their view, a danger to the population. The murderous regimes then in turn, replace the former art with images and statues of themselves, subsequently becoming “Gods” in image through their art. Regimes such as the Hitler regime and Stalin regime are the clear-cut examples of those who sought to replace “disagreeable” art. Those who failed to wall hang portraits of their dictatorial leaders were sent to death camps as punishment. Various nations even listed what was acceptable art and what was not acceptable.
2. Erasing the creator from history. Evidence of an artist is the art they create. Destroy a person’s art and you destroy any evidence of their existence. In order to truly rase someone from history, one must destroy and evidence of that individual’s existence. Throughout history, various leaders re-print previous images of themselves with their fellow mates but altered by removing specific individuals with the intention to re-write history. A great example of this is Stalin’s purge to remove Trotsky and his allies from being recognized as architects of establishing Communism in the Soviet Union (Rare Historical Photos). Stalin’s intent is to teach new generations that him and him alone was the one who brought communism to the Soviet Union being the savior to the nation. Competing this, it essentially erased Trotsky from Soviet history as a participant. The danger of altering art to fit one’s personal percieval of history is to rewrite history by erasing people from the accomplished works done in their name.
3. Preventing future generations from understanding the beauty of the past. Inspirations to create always comes from being able to see what has been created to order to develop ideas, formulate designs, and ultimately execute plans. As humans, we have the uncanny ability to turn anything whether good or bad into art. Art itself does come in many forms, whether it is a developed sound to developed pictures, to which we draw inspiration from in order to create our own. Music in essence is simply recreated with each generation, but with different words to convey the exact same message. Paintings, both color lines and colorless lines, express the same image just different bends and turns. However, without the original to improve upon, there would be no source to start one. Eliminating pieces that individuals may view as inappropriate or controversial does not take away the beauty of its ugliness or beauty of its controversialness, but simply solidify it. It has the opposite effect to which, future students cannot learn from it nor understand it, leading to its recreation and continuation.
What does this mean for present day? While we as a nation condemn the Nazis for burning knowledge and art, while we fault Stalin for erasing people from history by taking away their achievements by removing them from photographs, we are doomed to repeat the same mistakes as we go after artists by defining their art in the manner as we please to in order to destroy the artist. In present day America, two notable artists who are on the current chopping block, are both the notorious Banksy and SF’s own Fnnch. Banksy is known for his incendiary and controversial artwork. Fnnch’s Honey Bears is an interesting case. If you visit Sf, then more than likely than not you have seen his Honey Bears appear not only everywhere but given various colors (depending on the message) and wearing different customized outfits. The Mayor, various event organizers, and small businesses have always praised the Honey Bear art and in some cases, fellow pedestrians state “it brings them joy to see”, but now the script has been flipped and now the mob is at the door demanding his art be removed (Bravo). Fellow collaborators have refused or declined to work with the artist given the artist’s work dubbed “the Most despised Street Art in SF” (Alexandra). What we do by making art by an artist toxic is we risk going down the path of purging people whom we disagree with. Instead of making more art to combat art we disagree with, we risk becoming those who have been condemned in the past as brutal totalitarianists. Dictating what is acceptable and what isn’t acceptable not realizing that when achieving removing art that is disagreed on, eventually the mob goes after our very own, needing a sacrifice.
As we move forward with each upcoming generation, we as a nation, as a society must be always on guard of how we react to art we find abhorrent and repugnant. Whether or not we agree on what art is, the message is clear, art is subjective to one’s personal taste and mustn’t be put through a litmus test of acceptability. When society has arrived at the point of applying litmus tests to artist’s work, we run the risk of purging people who disagree with the mob’s perceived culture shift. With culture shifting, current acceptable pieces may not be tolerable in the next generation, or even the opposite with unacceptable pieces in the current generation and with culture shifts, will be acceptable in the next generation. Art is just as fluid as time, for art is a testament of the times we live in, to remove art is to erase time and the history to learn from it. Be aware of your feelings toward art the next time you see a form of art created by another. Would you like it? Would you hate it? Would you burn it if you got the chance? Would you stick your neck out to defend it? What would you do?
Maraviglia, Marilina. “About Art — What Do We Really Mean.” Smashing Magazine July 2010 https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/07/what-do-we-really-mean-by-art/ Accessed 10 May 2021
Hasselbach,Christoph, “When books were burned in Germany.” DW, October 2018, https://www.dw.com/en/when-books-were-burned-in-germany/a-43725960 Accessed 10 May 2021
Noor, Mashel, “Book Burning: From the Past to the Present”, Art and Seek, September 2014 https://artandseek.org/2014/09/25/book-burning-from-the-past-to-the-present/ Accessed 10 May 2021
Rare Historical Photos, “How Stalin’s propaganda machine erased people from photographs, 1922–1953.” https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/stalin-photo-manipulation-1922-1953/ Accessed 10 May 2021
Bravo, Tony, “Is this the moment San Francisco turns against fnnch’s Honey Bears?” SF Chronicle. May 2021 https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/art-exhibits/is-this-the-moment-san-francisco-turns-against-fnnchs-honey-bears Accessed 10 May 2021
Alexandra, Rae, “How fnnch’s Honey Bears Became the Most Despised Street Art in San Francisco.” April 2021 https://www.kqed.org/arts/13896327/fnnch-honey-bears-street-art-san-francisco Accessed 10 May 2021
