Libby Black, Protest, 2012. Oil on canvas, 8 x 6 inches. Obtained  here.

In the wake of International Women’s Day, a group of artists responded to Donald Trump’s tweet on March 8th.

The tweet read, “On International Women’s Day, join me in honoring the critical role of women here in America & around the world.”

According to The Huffington Post, “Halt Action Group (HALT), an artist-run organization whose members include painter Marilyn Minter, curator Alison Gingeras, and graffiti artist KATSU, [were] not about to let this glib comment go unchecked.”

Image and sources obtained via The Huffington Post here.

 

In honor of International Women’s Day here is an article by The Guardian that Highlights 10 women artists, a majority of which have produced pieces relating to political art.

The women looked at are Artemisia Gentileschi, Artemisia Gentileschi, Adrian Piper, Georgia O’Keeffe, Claude Cahun, Louise Bourgeois, Lyubov Popova, Cindy Sherman, Francesca Woodman, and Eva Hesse.

To read about the highlights of these women and their art check out the article here.

Image obtained via The Guardian article as well.

 

Because International Women’s Day is tomorrow this post will focus on a topic often associated with women: Feminism. In this post we will look at the term Feminism and how it has utilized art to further it’s political stance.

Theartstory.org writes that political art was used to “create a dialogue between the viewer and the artwork through the inclusion of women’s perspective.” On their article here, they noted that “art was not merely an object for aesthetic admiration, but could also incite the viewer to question the social and political landscape, and through this questioning, possibly affect the world and incite change toward equality.”

The same article notes that while today many people may think of women as prominent artists, “before feminism, the majority of women artists were denied exhibitions and gallery representation based on the sole fact of their gender.”

While feminist art is not limited to traditional media, it is important to note that traditional media (painting, sketching, etc.) is where the political expression in art started. The next blog post will introduce various artists and provide opportunity for exploration on how their mediums expressed their political views.

So why is feminist art worth noting? It is a way in which women and men can express their political views to the world, evoke change, and further the goals views of the feminist movement.

Image obtained from Wikimedia here.

 

Buzzfeed recently wrote an article highlighting prominent political art pieces that can be found here. Shown below is one of the art pieces obtained at the same site.

Image via a Facebook user here.

Even the simplest illustrations can evoke powerful messages. In the above illustration we can see that the image itself is not that complex, but the message transcends into all interpretations of the piece.

While it is ultimately up to the viewer to decide whether or not a political piece is effective, a good indication is whether or not the message can be understood and received over all audiences.

Below we can see another example of effective political illustration, by using monuments that are easily recognizable and a color scheme that is not too distracting the artist is able to illustrate the every-day atmosphere of the illustration that furthers his message formed by the hidden Pinocchio figure.

The choice to make the figure look like a wooden doll is well done and fits in with the narrative of Pinocchio. In my opinion this illustration is effective and the context around the monuments (and lack of depiction of anything else) can be explored further and in deeper detail if the viewer was curious.

Image obtained via Bored Panda here.

Throughout the rest of the week we will focus on illustration and it’s role in political expression.

In the cartoon below we can see an obvious opinion on the issue in Standing Rock. By positioning the two images side by side the artist is able to make their point and evoke their message: there lies an irony in the actions of standing rock when cultural appropriation of the same culture still exists.

The color scheme is simple and powerful, aiding in the message effectiveness, and this illustration is- in my opinion- a successful example of political art.

Illustration obtained here.

 

ArtNews described the role of the satirical artist and cartoons in their article here.

“A brilliant political cartoon can sum up the follies of the day (or the era) with a lightning-quick precision unavailable to even the most economical editorial writers. The graphic satirist has at his or her command a whole arsenal for lampoonery: exaggeration, speech balloons, and the usual draftsman’s tools of line, shade, and even color.”

The above example The Head Ache takes a new spin on a classic print by George Cruikshank. According to ArtNews, “The Head Ache is a digitally reproduced a 1819 etching [whereEnrique Chagoya] replaced the original head with a drawn portrait of President Obama. Then he transformed the whole thing into a new etching.”

The above image is an example of how political art can transcend time and be applicable for eras to come. Redoing an old piece can evoke new political meaning while making the artist’s message even more powerful than before.

Image Via ArtNews: here.