Art Power in the Social World - Dissertation Example

Art Power in the Social World There are many ments which can be used to define art. Philosophers and theorists like Plato, Hegel, and Gombrichdefine art as essentialism, which means that art is in essence, an extension of itself. However, this theory does not strongly exist in the current modern art. In considering the more contemporary context, George Dickie’s family resemblance theory correctly fits a more updated definition of modern art. The family resemblance appears in L. Wittgenstein who stated that the art world includes movies; music; visual arts like painting, sculpture; and plays. Movie and music would copy, but not as visual arts; music is audio art, but not in visual art. Different artists have different concepts of life and art which they put together. In these cases, Wittgenstein mentions family resemblance which is different, but has common creativeness in the art world. Art combines many categories. Art influences many things in a country including culture. This culture, in turn translates images of a country’s values, including religion in its aesthetic power. Art provides the attraction which makes people more sociable with each other and strongly fascinated in the religious world, in the society, and in the freedom of the art world which is contrasted with the hierarchical system of the capitalized world. Essentialism is still seen in the art world and in order to understand the essentialism of art, it is important to note that the essence of art is on its creativity, on its research in aesthetics, on its concepts, beliefs and ideas. Art should have freedom with art itself because art should follow essentialism in order to advance forward. If not, art would lose its essence and would more likely resemble factory work – one which is not rooted in beautiful material work. In modern art, it is hard to find art’s essentialism because modern art does not exist in the art world. Modern art exists in the social world. There is a repetition of power and weakness about capitalization of control in modern art. Art should be against any form of restriction, and in the capitalization of society, art is not art in itself. To analyze how art and art’s strength shows in the social world, art is mostly about explaining, expressing life, and researching humans and other creatures. These are all included in the art world. Art expressions can be seen in each country in the way they portray their own culture -- through their national song, their flag, their dance, literature, fashion, architecture, and other artistic expressions. Culture expresses many things about a country and such practices are representations of the nation. We can see this in the World Cup and the Olympics where countries compete through sports and the national flags together with the national songs represent the country and their culture. The culture also portrays images of a group of nations, like from the European region (France, Italy, Greek, England, and Germany) which are known for their artistry, beauty, culture, history, fashion, and other qualities. And from China, we see images of red, foods, passion, history and similar images. When people often think of a country, their memories can sometimes be related to artistic images. This is the strength of art. It is attractive to people; it can tempt, indoctrinate, brainwash, daze and strongly impact on human emotions. Art can be used in good and bad ways. Hitler used art for his communism and dictatorship and for aesthetic attraction in order to gather society and make himself stronger as a dictator. An example of the government using art in a bad situation is when communism control was in power and the image of Hitler and Nazism portrayed perfectly the dictatorship of Germany in 1933. This was when Hitler completely controlled Germany during World War II. Art was the basis of Hitler in order to make the Nazi government powerful. The Nazi government was not an assembly of government; it was an assembly of the people. Hitler knew that art meant power and danger. Hitler used art in a dangerous way. He used the Nazi in order to mobilize people and to get their interest; and he used the mass media through the radio and the movies, including the Olympics in 1936 in order to gain the support of the people for the Nazi regime. The Nazis forced all artists to join the organization. The artworks of these artists included paintings, sculptures, music, movies, mass media, and even speech. All the artists were constrained by the Nazis and they were forced to make art for the government. They built architectures, made movies, and tuned in to radio programs which gave praise and expressed loyalty to the Nazi government. These artworks made it easy for the government to control the people. Art has different side looks, especially if we consider the brand values and brand images of countries. For example, the United States value is that it is an emigration and vanguard nation. When we put value in any case, we see their art in their culture. Art serves as motive, as power, joy, and creativeness in our lives. Hence, it is easy to fool or manipulate people into believing something when it is supported by art. Art is truth and it gives people strength and power. Art has the power to control everything and without art it would be difficult for leaders to maintain charisma and to sway other people into agreeing to their thoughts and suggestions. There are also instances when art was used by a colony in order to exert power over its mother country. This can be seen in the historical experience of Korea in Japan’s hands. From August 1910 to August 15, 1945, Korea experienced 36 years of misery, wrath, and sorrow. When Japan came to Korea, they did so many things to the country. They managed the land; controlled the culture; controlled the army/police; took the cultural legacy; plundered the material and human resources; experimented on human bodies for medical science; and carried out many other atrocities. However, we got tired of being governed and controlled and we developed anger against them. We also desired our freedom. Those who were involved in the arts – the poets, the singers, and the authors were imprisoned and tortured until they died. The artistic activities which we manifested during these times made Japan mad; however, we also felt anger and wrath and expressed our anger through art. We secretly started activities in order to eventually gain our independence. We used news articles and poems where we sent messages to the rest of the people. Such independence activities were dangerous because then Japan started to destroy our culture, tradition, language, institutions, and our name. When Japan started to destroy our nation, our Korean ancestors were righteous and brave. The many Koreans killed by Japan in their medical experiments made us very angry. Their actions made us even more active in sending messages through the poems and speeches we used. Through literature, we were able to send the message across distances that we were about to fight for our independence. It took a long time for us to achieve our goals. In the process we learned how to speak Japanese, to praise Japan, to cut off our hair as a sign of cutting off our pride and our self-esteem. These made us even angrier and made us yearn for our independence. Our artworks became more violent and we criticized the government for their cruelty and mistreatment. When we finally ended our term as a colony, we cried with our patriotism. In that sense, art gave use the power against injustice and it made us advance forward against our oppressors. Art and religion are also very much related to each other. Religion has been in existence since ancient times. Many people worshipped various things like the nature, the sun, moon, stones, and animals. This is known as the totemic culture. This is the belief in nature, including animals, plants, trees, and many others – believing them to be God. They even made sculptures in honor of these items of worship. The creation of religion gave people something to rely on. It gave people energy; and gave them a reason to live. Art was used in order to increase and strengthen the people’s faith and beliefs. People are attracted by the sense of mystery, fantasy, and magic which often surrounds their beliefs. Using paintings, sculptures, and architecture in religion has strong effects in gaining stronger belief. In essence, these artworks seem to act as a drug to the people. Religion also developed and other religious communities were seen. These religions now included Christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism, among others. Religious people realized that art powerfully expressed their beliefs and their religious practices. The Byzantine and the Renaissance periods were the strongest periods for art in religion, especially as the pope or the monarchs asked artists to paint, sculpt and design buildings in the name of religion. Religion eats into the minds of people who have no love, strength, happiness, or satisfaction in their lives. Religion makes them believe in better living conditions, better mental states, and provides them general rest from their daily trials. Religion developed itself and eventually became a bigger community. It was also able to gain an enormous amount of money through its activities. And this redirected religion into other goals and endeavors. Pseudo-religions enticed people into believing in different ways. Their activities often involved violent activities, including sex, killing, suicide, and similar activities. Pseudo religious believers gathered their followers in order to make money or to build an ideal world where they can escape to. There are many problems encountered in relation to these pseudo-religions. One example was seen in Chile, where in 1975 to 1978, a community group named Colonia Dignity headed by German Paul Shafer, raped more than 27 girls. Some of the girls were even electronically tortured. One girl died during these acts of torture. As a cult leader, Shafer forced 7 young girls to leave their parents and be raped. Schafer used art in his community in order to carry out his activities. He used powerful and enticing speeches that the followers wanted to believe in order to convince the people to join his community. He used the strength of art in order to make believers that they could not escape from his world. When girls resisted, he shot them full of sedatives. Allegedly, Schafer wanted to enjoy the purity of the girls. In pseudo religion, the aesthetic side is used in order to make people weak and in order to create chaos in their minds. Sounds are also often used in order to put people in a dreamy and hypnotized state. Another case of pseudo religion was seen when a cult personality was able to convince people that eating garbage can make the body clean, that eating garbage can lead to the eating of the dirtiness in the mind and body. In this case, they used garbage as a drug. Art in the form of songs makes people believers. They give splendor and attractiveness and this draws people every now and then into the ‘drug.’ Humans often have some areas of darkness in their mind. And pseudo religion nurtures people with weaknesses, loneliness, or breakdowns. Hence, pseudo religion is a big problem when we consider those who have lost the will to live because these people want to find an ideal world. In the process, they can be easily drawn to pseudo religions. The aesthetic draw of pseudo religions causes people to be brainwashed, and to find their ideal in the aesthetic world. This aesthetic world then captivates them through sweet talk and false promises. In the end, the pseudo religion becomes their salvation and their downfall. The strength of art is in its power to influence society. Art connection with the capitalized system is only seen in the upper group society. For some time, artworks have mostly been seen among the higher classes in society. Art areas only existed among the upper classes and paintings and sculptures actually symbolized the wealth of the social group. Even if art is discussed in almost all aspects of society, the people were still defined through their financial classes in society. Art is still an expensive resource in society. For some lobbyists and politicians, they often use art, instead of money to lobby. The value of art is often based on its review in the art world – not in the general public. In order to gain success in the art world, one should be knowledgeable, should be financially equipped, should have social connections, should work in the same level of society, should be among high class people who know the value of art, and be among people who know why an artwork is worthy of value. By being knowledgeable in these aspects, artists can make art work in their favor without being pressured by higher society. It is the people after all who make art valuable. These people are even more knowledgeable about art and it is up to them to place a value on art. Art has a special significance in other areas. Today, various artists create art work in order to express themselves. It is safe to guess that in about 100 artists about 10 are not under any pressure to create artwork for financial reasons or for publicity. And the other 90 artists are doing it for financial reasons. We have an art society system based on support patronage and these systems often recommend those who are really talented and deserving of support. Many competitions also exist around the globe for artists to participate in. In the art work based on company patronage, the artists often base their work on what the company or corrector wants. They are pressured to follow the trends and dictates of another person or another group. Are they really artists? We do not have the right to criticize the social system of artists. However, it is crucial to ask if an honest art really exists. Even in competition, especially in modern art, we really have a hard time deciding on the good or bad. And in the end, we have to ask if what is chosen by those in the upper classes in society would be honest picks for the general public. Or are they just chosen to fit the taste of upper class society? I feel that art has become a source of entertainment by those in the upper classes in society. Artists work in the art profession because they need the money. They have no choice but to earn money and most of them are considered starving artists. Even among groups of artists, they often find it hard to maintain their group because art is often a very expensive endeavor. When nobody sees it, it is useless. Art should be shown to people in order to mean something. As mentioned above, essentialism of art should advance liberty and freedom. It should give the artist a chance to express his concepts and beliefs. And only through self-definition and self-criticism can they grow as artists. The strength of art such as its attractiveness, creativeness, and power enabled the control of a nation as seen through Hitler. It is also a means of carrying out injustice; it makes people believe stronger in something; and it makes them hide the truth and the issues of the world. Art influences people. If we are against its power, art disappears in a moment and reappears as human instinct. For example, we consider the lizard’s tale wherein the lizard is said to be always easy to cut down. But it can easily be revived, same with power. We are always living under power, especially in the art world. All examples do not match perfectly in the art categories, but as family resemblance, it is one of the inconsistencies of life. There is only one way to figure out power and its success. No one is powerless in the world, even if we have a lord for the universe. There is a circulation of power. And in the art world, class is a powerful determinant of power. This power exists but, can it really define art as a whole? Would art find the next step of development without the essentialism of art? Read More