Propaganda

Throughout time and across cultures, the power of the visual arts has been harnessed to promote the interests of the powers that be. Historically, the societal elites are usually the people who commission works of art intended for the public to behold. Thus, the content of such artworks was often heavily propagandistic in nature so as to fit the message of those commissioning it. Artists seek independence, but before independence they seek to make a living, so it comes as no surprise that these elite patrons were continually pleased to receive amazing work from artists such as Peter Paul Rubens and Jacques-Louis David. The modern view leans more toward empowering the artist to create his or her own message in opposition to the establishment, but occurrences such as the CIA’s promotion of anti-communist ideals via abstract expressionism during the Cold War proves that art as propaganda permeates our much more recent history.

Personally I despise modern political propaganda of any kind because I think it is intentionally designed to put a happy mask on the truth, so I am glad that it is now commonplace for the artist to utilize the right to promote his or her own views despite the system. That being said, there is a hint of irony in the fact that we as artists have been given the legal right to freedom of speech, and yet we use that right to protest the same government that made sure we had that right in the first place. Censorship is a hot topic right now, and I pray that we never lose our right to express ourselves freely. The moment that liberty is stunted is the moment propaganda in art will revert back to its original purpose.