Art Expression

In the Houston House of Law, “Political and artistic expressions are both ancient and symbolic endeavors.” Throughout this class, I have seen through first point of view looking at the pieces of art that it is a look inside their inter most part of the mind and thoughts. Art is like the window to the soul for artists. Expression is the first thing that comes to mind when looking at art. There should be no rules to what people decided to create whether if its reflective or reactive which is similar to a mirror to society, as opposed to society itself. People are very critical of other work that is different than the stereotypical norm. Artwork creates much controversy when an artist uses it to express their view on society. The Houston House of Law, states, “art is political”. I don’t think I fully understand how powerful art could be in a political or influential essence until I went to the museum last week. Each piece has a story; the idea that a picture is worth a thousand words is a very true statement. Those who fund the art may or may not support the meaning or display of the piece. For example in The Dinner Party by Judy Chicago was funded by a group of conservative politicians and once they hear about the plan Chicago had for this display they were threatening to withdraw funding because it seemed to be more pornography and not art. This idea embodies the concept of Culture Wars that politicians and religious leaders argue that public money should not be sed to support art that is seen as offensive, pornographic, religious, and homosexual or against their religion.

Art is where people tend to test the boundaries while they express themselves The term struggling artist is a very popular concept for describing the occupation of these people. Because art is so political, the people who fund the piece hold the power of what will be popular. Art is not as free as people think it is there funders of each piece hold all of the to what is displayed in galleries and what is appropriate to be seen. The mayor of New York, Rudy Giuliani, attacked the funding of the Brooklyn Museum because it held the pieces The Dinner Party as well as The Holy Virgin Mary (1996) by Chris Ofili. The people in higher-class society are trying to censor the artwork that the general public will see. We live in a society where we preach how we have so much freedom but in reality artwork is constantly being censored and politics are controlling the way things are being viewed. Artwork is where genuine ideas can be displayed and right now the art we see is a very distorted view of society and expression. Even though The Dinner Party project made me uncomfortable, Judy Chicago should still be able to express her ideas and let them be seen.