1960-1980 radicalism in American art - Essay Example

1960-1980 Radicalism in American art Radicalism in American art The introduction of Chicano arts was in the 60's, and was a partof a civil rights movement in the city. The Chicano art spirit was mainly set up on the traditional way of life and historical revolution, and some of it still continues up to date. Presently, most artists have chosen to adopt a Chicano way of art although they modify it with the modern way of life and include the usage of digital media, and mixed media (Chance, 2006).

Feminism art encouraged the students to collaborate with one another and concentrate on bringing out the feminine side of students in their artwork, and the way they presented themselves and understood life. Through collaboration, students of feminism art would know a lot about each another's experiences. This in turn would help them to have more passion towards their art work (Cottingham, 2000). Most black arts were mainly used as a tool to fight political injustices in America in the 60's. African-Americans finally had a better way to express themselves peacefully without necessarily going to the streets.

One thing about all the three arts is that they were all used to express ideas even though it was for different messages. The black art expressed dissatisfaction with the way the black Americans were being treated. A good example is the fight against segregation. Whenever the blacks would go to the streets, they would be met by harsh and mean methods of stopping them like the use of dogs by the police (Smethurst, 2005). A good example of an art used to celebrate the American black majority is Romare Bearden "The prevalence of ritual: Baptism 1964.

" In the portrait there is the use of water that symbolizes the way the right of black Americans kept changing in the 60's. In the case of Chicano art they expressed humor and some unfortunate tragedies. One of the elements that stand out in a Chicano community are tattoos, use of poetry and music. A good example of a Chicano artist who is universally known for her works of art is Nao Bustamante (Chance,2006). Feminism art was also used as a way of women expressing themselves through art. Most of the time artists used to go to a secluded studio house where they could lock themselves away from men.

Although they separated from men, the art class concentrated on collaboration among the artists. According to Cottingham (2000), the female artists would discuss personal things such as finances, relationships, and family. One of the feminist artist known is a Japanese artist called Yoko Ono. At a particular performance, she knelt on the stage dressed in traditional Japanese women dress and let the audience cut off piece by piece of her cloth. The performance was a demonstration against women violence.

Apart from wanting to express themselves, the three kinds of arts focused on changing the way that their members were either treated or seen by other people of the community. The black art wanted to stop the oppression by the white. They wanted to enjoy some privileges such as riding in a bus with the whites, and being able to vote who they wanted, among other issues. The feminists, however, wanted to gain respected from men and show independence. The Chicano art was basically to get acknowledged as part of Americans.

The differences between these three groups of arts occurs via several factors. In two of the arts, that is the black arts and the feminist arts, there is a lot of aggressiveness as compared to the Chicano art. The blacks were fighting for political freedom and maturity and used their art to express that while the feminist were fighting for a woman's independence and they too used their art to fight (Smethurst, 2005). Looking at Chicano however, they took a more relaxed and comical outreach. Themes that mostly come out in black art are sadness, struggle, and rebellion.

A given example has been the photo of Mohammed Ali just after he had defeated Henry cooper in 1966 in a boxing match. Another piece of art that shows the theme of struggle is the "Rocket to the moon(1967)" that illustrates how blacks are living a hard life in the ghetto. Most themes expressed in feminist arts were themes of appreciation and equality. Feminists believed in collaboration among the artists. Cottingham notes that their strength came from knowing that they can depend on other women if not themselves (2000).

For example, Carrie Mae Weems "Mirror mirror," in as much as it mainly relayed a message of differing race, its sole purpose was equality. Chicano art mainly focuses on the themes of discrimination and identity. Knowing that they originate from Mexico, they at times feel like guests to the United States of America (Korrol & Ruiz , 2006). A good example is one that Chavez meets with Robert Kennedy in 1968. One of the AIM leader by the name Leonard was accused of killing two FBI agents and is still considered a political prisoner despite evidence showing of doctored testimony.

Art is a good way of expressing oneself , it is peaceful and harmless. However, with very many other methods of expressing oneself these days, such as social media, art is slowly loosing its essence in communicating. What it is used for these days is to get money and be famous. All in all, art can still successfully be used to express oneself and bring change. For example Guerilla girls using a poster in 2005 to discourage the use of nudity by women to get noticed. References Cottingham, L.(2000).

Seeing Through the Seventies: Essays on Feminism and Art. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: G+B Arts. Chance, J (2006). Jose Maria de Jesus Carvajal , The Life and Times of a Mexican Revolutionary. San Antonio, Texas: Trinity University Press. Ruiz, L., & Korrol, V.(2006). Latinas in the United States: A Historical Encyclopedia. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Smethurst, J. E. (2005). The Black Arts Movement: Nationalism in the 1960s and 1970s. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.