Two points of interest are
(A) Art inspired by Barack Obama.
(B) Will the 2009 Economic Stimulus Package address unemployment among artists in analogy to the Federal Art Project, part of the Work Project Administration (WPA) created by Roosevelt?
(A) Quoting Rob Walker, New York Times:
Whether or not Barack Obama would make a good president, it’s clear that he makes an excellent muse. It’s hard to think of a political candidate in recent memory who has, in real time, inspired so much creativity, exercised free of charge and for the campaign’s benefit. Perhaps this suggests something about Obama — or maybe it suggests something about his supporters.
Shepard Fairey created this limited edition print of Barack Obama in an effort to fund a larger street poster campaign, January 2008. Fairey is one of today’s best known and most influential street artists. He sits on the advisory board of Reaching to Embrace the Arts, a not-for-profit organization that provides art supplies to disadvantaged schools and students.
A painting “Michelle and Sasha Obama Listening to Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention, August 2008” by Elizabeth Peyton, another contemporary artist, was exhibited in the The New Museum in New York City’s Lower East Side neighborhood.
Another manifestation of the enthusiasm for Obama within the art community was an auction that brought together the work of more than 100 contemporary artists enabling artObama raised over $46,000 for Obama’s presidential campaign.
(B) Will the 2009 Economic Stimulus Package provide employment for artists?
“Sparty” at Michigan State University provides an example of the impact of a work of art funded by the 20th century Economic Stimulus Package, the Federal Art Project. MSU’s icon is much photographed at different times of day and seasons of the year (montage from pictures on the web).
With an economic stimulus package, Barack Obama has proposed to “put people back to work rebuilding our crumbling roads and bridges, modernizing schools that are failing our children, and building wind farms and solar panels,” by adding 2.5 million jobs.
An analogy is provided by the Works Project Administration (WPA) that was created by Franklin Delano Roosevelt to deal with the Great Depression. More than 8,500,000 Americans were hired to build roads, public buildings and parks and do other infrastructure work around the country. Unemployed artists were hired through the Federal Art Project, part of the WPA.
The lasting legacy of art, funded by the Federal Art Project, can still be seen and enjoyed throughout USA.
Birgit,
The quilt art community has jumped into the Obama-inspired art mode, with at least two major exhibits (both, I think, organized by the African American art community) scheduled to open around the 20th. Lots of excitement among the QA groups that I am in communication with; lots of people inspired by his election (but the same was true of images “inspired” by 9/11, so I’m not really sanguine about what that means).
I am not so much inspired by Obama as I am enormously relieved that his election might help erase or at least ease the horrendous responsibility that we bear for slavery and its consequences for some of our fellow citizens. So, while for some, “hope” and “change” are truly meaningful (the Rev. King used the words in meaningful ways), for me, it’s the actions seen in the collective voting that were the meanings, not necessarily the man himself (although everything I’ve seen about Barack Obama actually makes me feel that there’s a chance). While I do have all the hopes that most Americans do, for a better future than we’ve seen in a while, they are concrete and centered not on Obama but on the citizenry — decent health care for all, a renewed economy for all workers, an infrastructure that doesn’t embarrass and demean us, etc. I haven’t gotten to the point of being sure that the new prez will be truly heroic; I do have some hopes that he’ll be competent.
As for the arts community, unless we fall totally into the Second Great Depression (I think it isn’t clear that that will be the case quite yet) the arts are going be low on the list of priorities for any new administration. Let’s face it — most artists are the best craftspeople in existence and so may be first in line to get good jobs rebuilding things that need sawn and welded and mechanically understood. I doubt that those pushing stocks and selling condos will have the skills necessary to actually make things.
I submit this with some trepidation, as it reveals a whole set of prejudices that I would rather not, but seem to have, in spite of my desire to be a better person. Maybe in 2009 I’ll become perfect.
June,
A large aspect of the global economy is based on generating and selling the Disposable. The Disposable – computers, blackberries, TV sets – is a means to an end but not an end in itself. The Disposable helped Obama to reach the citizenry and inspire it with hope. Hope is a spiritual quality and the spiritual often invokes Art. And Art is marketable.
Art promotes tourism. In earlier times, magnificent churches and castles were built to display Art. Nowadays, money is spent to build splendid museums for displaying Art. A recent example is the Museum for Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar designed by I. M. Pei. Why spend a fortune on museums for displaying Art if Art is not a marketable commodity?
Art affects our minds. And therefore, Art has medicinal applications. That Art can provide relief in illness is dramatically illustrated by its effects on Alzheimer’s disease patients. Museum programs can lower their symptoms of agitation, their depression and increase their self-esteem.
Thus, why feel defensive about asking for money for the arts in the context of the 2009 economic stimulus package? ART is a marketable commodity that, like the building bridges and other items of the infrastructure, creates items of lasting value. Why not base more of the US economy on creating works of Art?
Birgit,
I agree with you in theory, and art, being disposable, spiritual, and medicinal _should_ be a greater part of the economy. I just don’t have any hope for greater funding unless the world as I know it changes drastically.
One thing that has happened during my lifetime is that bringing children into art activities has increased greatly. I don’t know that this involvement lasts much longer than, say, 5th grade, which is just when doing and understanding art can get gnarly, but most of the artist residencies that I’ve seen ask that you work with school children, and most art councils have a wing that concentrates on art activities for kids. I suspect it’s both popular and safe and a way that art councils and art teachers can keep their jobs.
Perhaps one of the bigger problems is that (grown-yp) art can feel difficult, threatening or, to the smug, foolish. Another problem is that if art got profitable, profiteering would take over and all the stock brokers who sold bogus house loans (I know, I’ve conflated two different economic activities) would go into art making. That might not be so good for the process.
If I sound facetious, forgive me. You are correct in your comments and I didn’t mean to dismiss them. No one with any power has yet called me to ask my opinion; when they do, I’ll quote you.
I suspect that art isn’t a communal experience and therefore lacks something of the sweep of new music, say, or films that can be distributed world wide all at once. Much of visual art is a deeply personal experience and takes time and effort to grasp and hold. It’s more difficult to have it sneak up on you in the way that music can pull you from Johnny Cash to Bob Dylan to Dawn Upshaw and on to Verde and John Adams. But maybe the work with children could evolve into more and more sophisticated adventures that in turn would become more communal.
Just blather, sorry. I’m only on my first cup of coffee.
June,
I, too, noticed the increased attempt to involve children in art. During my last two visits at the Met, I saw groups of little kids sprawling on the floor talking about the paintings. I remember someone teaching them perspective by asking who was taller the harvesters in the foreground or the ships in the far, far distance in a Bruegel picture.
Thanks for bothering to read the stuff and replying.
Birgit and June,
Thank you for so much food for thought. I agree with Birgit that the disposable is only a means to an end. As a means it has much to teach.
June, I don’t think your thoughts about the capabilities of those of us who use our manual dexterity in our work are discriminatory. We are the nineteenth century dinosaurs who built this nation.
We’re sort of an exception to the rule. Without the size of our human brains we would not have been able to accomplish the industrial revolution. We would not have been able to go from an agrarian society to a culture based first on thought and then on follow through.
It became fashionable in the mid twentieth century to condemn the blue collar work and worker as less intelligent and intellectual than those who strive to accomplish academically and take that accomplishment into the business world.
That prejudice will remain until we genuinely value all, not just artists, who work knowingly, knowledgably, and compentently with their hands. I am not speaking of the “parts changers” who neither read nor understand the shop manuals of so many trades.
It will be interesting to see how the twentieth century reclaims the art and skill of working with one’s hands, be it with a shovel, a race car, a sleek new windmill, or a paint brush. thelmasmith
Birgit,
There’s an example of Obama art in a picture (4th from top) on Joanne Mattera’s blog. Next to Obama as patriotic superman, it has the words:
From that post I found out there’s a blog dedicated to Obama art, The Obama Art Report.That’s hope! Let’s indulge ourselves while we can.
June,
I suspect you’re right we’re not going to see too much too soon from the government. But even more powerful could be what motivated artists are inspired to do. There’s a blog about some of the goings-on on the Obama site, where you can also find his arts policy.
Thelma,
The ideas of the disposable and skill with hands come together for me in my pet peeve about nobody repairing anything anymore. It’s hard to blame them when repairs cost more than buying new, and few have the ability to do it themselves. I’m flush from fixing an alarm clock, but I guess I didn’t value my time too highly.
Birgit and Steve,
The image of Michelle and Sasha Obama by Elizabeth Peyton that Birgit has shown is quite moving for me.
I fear the worship of any political figures, and so the Fairey print tends to give me the shudders; I’m glad it helped fund the campaign, but the process of worship of state figures hasn’t got a very good history. Those worshipped can often be monstrous.
But thinking of Sasha falling asleep on her mom’s lap while her father makes his speech makes me see Obama as not a greater-than-life person, but just a really good organizer, really smart man, and I hope, a really good leader. That’s what we need — leave the icons behind and get to the nitty-gritty — infrastructure, health care, war, and, yes, the arts. The heroic statues of the 1930’s of the “working man” are a bit different; they don’t single out someone and plaster his likeness on the sides of billboards, a la Stalin or Mao. Sparty is a kind of mascot, a symbol of a whole host of farmers and steel workers and miners.
You see, I do believe in the power of art — a power that can be misused as well as well used.
I have to add that last night I had a dream in which I composed an Obama scene — the scene was set in the mountains that I’ve been painting; the mountain scene, of a winding green gorge, filled most of the canvas, but in the foreground, way down in the creek far below below the viewer, was a grandstand.
In the grandstand (or maybe it was a natural bowl set into the hill side) were peoples of all ethic groups, all shades and hues of human flesh and physical characteristics. It was possible that I thought African Americans would be predominate, but the dream is hazy on that point. They were all looking at something the viewer couldn’t see, which was being projected on a large screen TV. The TV was turned sideways to the viewer, who knew it was Obama at the inauguration, but who couldn’t see anything but the side of the thin TV screen.
I think this is called “power to the people.” But it might also have something to do with our electronic age and the discussion on A&P. It definitely has to do with working out the difficulties of painting the Pennsylvania Pine Creek Gorge.
Steve,
Obama’s art policy sounds a little thin:
June,
I am with you in saying:
When I expressed similar fears to a colleague, he ventured the opinion that Michelle will keep him honest. But, apparently, she did not object to the family’s deal with Rezko. Rezko, a Chicago gangster, is small fry considering the money people on the international scene.
My Hope is that the American citizenry will function as Obama’s conscience.
It’s interesting that the Obama poster seems to be deliberately reminding us of Social Realist posters, along with a more modern graphic simplification.
Your dream canyon reminded me of the lovely O’Keefe’s I’ve been looking at in Georgia O’Keefe and Ansel Adams: Natural Affinities. Many of them recall your John Day work, and there are also some great tree trunks.
Birgit,
That does seem a fairly lame intro. I doubt much of the document–focusing on arts in education, and support for the NEA and cultural diplomacy–was written, or perhaps even seen, by Obama.
On the other hand, I’m impressed that he wrote his books himself (as far as I know), which at least led to the understanding that writing (like other art) can be “a process of self-discovery” (see mini interview on Amazon, part way down the page). I also think his feeling for the power of language is deeper than mere political rhetoric.
But frankly, I think it’s not so much what Obama may or may not do, but what newly connected followers may be inspired to do on themselves.
Folks:
So much to think about…
In regards to the “socialist realist” poster of Obama, it collides for me with something I saw. The Democratic Convention was over and Barack returned to the Pennsylvania hustings the very next day. The bus had stopped at an ice cream stand and the freshly anointed one was sitting at an outdoor table working on a cone. There was no “look what I’m doing” about it – no photo-op calculation. Rather he projected a sense of introspection and, maybe, a little fatigue. The kind of modest personality that he appears to possess just doesn’t accord with heroic presentation.
I worked in a form of art education for eleven years. School groups k-12 were a regular part of my day. What to do with these people in the museum setting.was a challenge. A large portion of the inner city kids were visually disengaged in that they lived in unsightly circumstances, were glued to and cued by mass media and often couldn’t see a dog in a tapestry for all one’s pointing. It appeared that visual competency, the ability to absorb what is there to be seen and to synthesize it into something fresh or useful, was virtually gone. Talking about a Rubens or a Stella was beside the point when the students needed to practice the most elementary forms of connection between their eyes, hands, a medium of some sort and a theme. To me art, as a pursuit that strengthens one’s inward abilities and forges links to outward circumstance, is a most important national investment.
But I hesitate when it comes to some form of revived WPA. Nobody is forced to be an artist, And I know of one theater major who is a very competent bank manager, and another who designs video games.
Happy New Year Birgit. Good observation on the Obama art. I welcome the artistic focus on a functional person/family of color. There was a time and I remember it clearly – when many African Americans rejected Bill Cosby’s TV “Dr. Heathcliff ‘Cliff’ Huxtable” as being unimaginable and not a possibility . But now there is a President, who’s picture will be displayed in every government building and school, who will look like many of kids who are in search of their identity. Hopefully this will inspire. Our insistence (I know idealistic) in having art as major contributors to every one’s education is necessary and we can not wait on a President Obama (or any politician).
Bob, I’m sure you’re right that those pictures in schools and elsewhere will inspire. At the same time, I agree with Jay that one of the most attractive things about Obama is how he is when he’s not trying to inspire.
I think all artists will be better off if more people learn about and learn to care about art. Focusing on art in education seems the best single objective, though there are certainly other worthy ones. Technical prowess is relatively easy, technical and social innovation is harder. I think art can help.
Bob,
I want to tell you about my happiness at seeing a large picture on the front page of NYTimes showing Barack Obama lifting his daughter into the family SUV. Like you, I think that it is tremendously important for our children to see the picture of Obama as US president.
At the same time, growing up in postwar Germany, I fear the worship of state figures. Thus, I hope that Jay is correct about Barack Obama’s modest personality. From reading the newspapers, I got the impression that Obama, besides being there for his family, is brilliant and pragmatic.
I don’t think that it is enough that, as Steve said, I think it’s not so much what Obama may or may not do, but what newly connected followers may be inspired to do on themselves.. Supposedly, power can corrupt and I hope that the American citizenry will hold Obama to his promise for change from prevailing political corruption.
Jay,
What you said in your comment is tremendously important
Ed Winkleman has a post today on differences between US and UK attitudes toward art, which mentions Obama as Time’s Person of the Year. I’d have to agree we’re unlikely to see a museum director on that cover anytime soon.
Art is marketable as a Global Commodity:
The Times of London named Neil MacGregor, the British Museum’s director, as their ‘Briton of the Year’ explaining that
and,
Birgit:
Quoted – and in boldface as well. Well!
Yes, there is a grand trans-national entity out there, enhanced by the internet, embalmed sharks and elephant dung.
Jay,
What do you expect? You described a horrific experiment on humans manipulating their visual, somatosensory/motor and cognitive learning.
Earlier, we talked about experiments done on animals – kittens – that show, when raised in an environment of vertical stripes, kittens are virtually blind to a horizontal bar and, therefore, bump into it.
Compared to the orientation of a line, movement appears to be an even stronger stimulus for perception. Frogs jump after flies, eagles dive for running mice and, we humans too, are built with a heightened awareness to movement.
Now, you told us about three neuropathologies resulting from glueing a child to mass media
(1) ..often could not see a dog in a tapestry for all one’s pointing. Thus, children, glued to moving stimuli, MOVIES, had become blind to STATIONARY objects. Visual pathology.
(2) …lacked the most elementary forms of connection between their eyes, hands, …. Somatosensory/motor pathology.
(3) .. lacked the most elementary forms of connection between their eyes, hands, a medium of some sort and a theme. Cognitive pathology.
And all of that can be prevented by art, as a pursuit that strengthens one’s inward abilities and forges links to outward circumstance .
Art is a cost-effective national investment compared to the cost of medical therapies attempting to undo these neuropathologies of children.
Birgit:
I composed and deleted a response to your analysis that was more rant than response. I began to relive my experiences as a parent of three sons, who are now in their thirties. It was an uphill and losing battle against the influences that were then coming to prevail. They are solid and productive people, but somewhat tube – shaped in that one is an avid transformers collector, the other spends time playing video games and the third is employed as a video game designer.
Part of the answer is to get young folks to pay attention to things and not be so influenced to tune out. Much of this has to do with what a person can stand. You likely, and I for sure, turn a blind eye toward the spasm that infests the internet. Too much noise and too much seeking to exploit for my taste. Multiply this for kids who are under a constant barrage of noise from a business segment that wants to turn them into consumer robots, maybe a disfunctional family situation, maybe some ugly poverty – and you have folks who can’t heed the quiet messages for all the din.
Jay,
I just read about transformers on Wikipedia. It sounds fascinating.
Isaac Asimov was prescient in writing his robot series.
There’s a petition on the web to support a Secretary of the Arts position. Frankly, I haven’t thought out all the political ramifications and come to a considered opinion on whether this is the best approach. But I figure adding my name shows that there’s one more person strongly in favor of keeping art in the national consciousness.
Steve, Fabulous! I endorsed the Secretary of the Arts position
Guys:
A secretary of the cabinet, to which I assume you refer, oversees an established department. There is no department of the arts as yet. So I would recommend that we petition for such a department. The secretary will come with the territory.
Jay,
Will you start a petition for a Department of the Arts?
Birgit:
Perhaps. There are likely a dozen such petitions floating around already.
Government involvement in the arts at a department level is a touchy subject. What would it do? Entities like National Public Radio and, more locally, the Ohio Council for the Arts, are already taxpayer supported, so there is no need to embellish on that kind of involvement with a Washington bureaucracy.
Re. our topic, the arts are not wanting. Beer and cigarettes pay for a lot of art activity in this town and the Cleveland School of the Arts is a shining light in an otherwise dismal school district. The internet is loaded – top to bottom – with clever visual material, and accessible free at your local library.
We live in a world replete with visual stimulation. There is plenty to engage the eye, but too often it’s that mind and hand that are disengaged. A general state of visual literacy is what I would like to see: know how to follow written instructions, read a map or a set of blue prints, understand a little about the hows and whys of publishing and broadcasting. While I have scolded some elements of business for their wanting to dumb folks down, there are other significant business elements, concerned for their workforces, who are just as eager to sharpen folks up. And the ability of people to deal visually is key to that edge.
Birgit,
I love this post…what all the discussion means to me is HOPE finally..for us as artists, for our country and for this world. I too fear any worship of state figures and think it is up to us as individuals and as a whole.
It’s not so often that A&P is leading the art blogosphere–which is just as well for both. I’m not suggesting that art world icons are hanging off our words here, but it was fun to find further discussion of Obama arts policy on Ed Winkleman and Tyler Green referring to an article in the Washington Post on the political iconography of Shepard Fairey’s Obama poster.
I suppose I am the only person on the planet who thinks this guy is a fraud. I hope I’m wrong.
Melanie,
Your standards may be too high. I voted for Obama because he is intelligent, and, I hope, ambitious enough not to want to go into history with the infamy of a George Bush. I was reassured that he chose Biden who has a reputation of being honorable. I am sad that he wants to escalate the war in Afganistan but I like that he sent Biden to that part of the world on a fact-finding mission.
Melanie,
I think lots of people have concerns, to say the least. It will be very interesting to watch what happens, though it can be hard to evaluate any one actor, given all the contingencies. My hope is based in the belief that inspiring others is a large part of what an effective political leader has to do, and in that sense Obama has already proved himself. How sustainable is it? We shall see, willy-nilly.
Anyone who can make it through our grueling campaign process, and do it with such class, is, in my mind, ready to serve. Much will be heaped upon his plate and much abuse upon his pate. He appears to have the character to handle it.
Hitler was also skilled at inspiring crowds. This ability — admittedly highly refined and adrioitly deployed — to put on a convincing act is the main source of my skepticism. But we’ll see what we see. It’s the great strength and great flaw of our political system.
Arts Leaders Urge Role for Culture in Economic Recovery, an article in today’s NYTimes, addresses what we have discussed here.
The petition (see comment #22) some of us signed for a new cabinet post, Secretary of Arts, has now more than 199,500 signatures!
An encouraging update re the Obama administration from Slow Muse. In the NY Times article she links to, I read this from Teresa Eyring, executive director of the Theater Communications Group representing nonprofit theaters: