Political and social issues in artwork
...ons are tied together. This is a fact which appears to have escaped many modern artists lately. For whether they realize it or not, whatever types of art they make—whether it openly criticizes society or not—it makes a certain political statement about that artist, his values and our societal and political structure. Henry Thornton once said “Politics is the art of choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable.” I think fine art is more relevant to a kind of indirect social or political connection. There is a difference between political art and art which just happens to become political in some way. It’s the difference between art which hopes to do something to you, and art which you might do something to: between having a deliberate message in it and the viewers finding a halfway-accidental message in it. Artist Mark Wallinger addressed a lot of social issues in his artwork. In one of his paintings, Capital (1990), he painted a series of portraits of homeless people, who were actually his friends in costume, standing in the doorways of banks. In this painting, Wallinger was challenging the hierarchies of traditional art by portraying social outcasts in a form usually set aside for the influential and important members of society. In using his friends as the homeless people, I believe Wallinger was making another statement in that we are all humans, rich or poor, and should be treated such like. Wallinger felt that painting as a medium in itself was a finished work of art. Not all art carries a social or political message, but when it does it helps others see that message in a different view. Some artists are able to express their feelings and opinions through their art that allows society to see things in a sometimes truer persp...