2.6: Art - Visual
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- Susan Rahman, Prateek Sunder, and Dahmitra Jackson
- CC ECHO
A studio arts major will apply creativity, problem-solving, and design-based solutions to different forms of media, including sculpture, ceramics, painting, and jewelry (art, n.d.).Every person possesses creativity and the act of making art is available to all of humanity. It is when an artist seeks validation for their creative work that cultural standards of beauty and value come into play. Whether this creativity gets nurtured or judged is steeped in structural racism. Racism in art takes place in the public forum, via evaluative practices in art schools and universities that are focused on a Eurocentric aesthetic, which dictates what makes something artistically appealing. Is beauty in the eye of the beholder or is there something larger at play that serves as a tool to critique art based on an industry standard? Often it is white folks in the academy, gallerists, and art critics who set the barometer to dictate what is classified as art inU.S. Art departments and schools, and in the culture at large. Traditionally the frame is Eurocentric if something is to be considered classic artwork. A historical lens focusing on Art from Europe as the premier form shapes how Art faculty teach students to draw, paint and sculpt. When there is instruction on styles or methods that originate from non-Euro/North of Mexico cultures, it is often labeled “primitive art” which basically translates to anything non-white (Primitive Art, 2021).
Financial barriers that preclude students in other types of art discussed in previous sections serve to perpetuate western, upper class, imperialism by limiting access for those who cannot pay. Art school, materials and portfolio curation are all expensive which keeps many from pursuing this field. The capitalist ethic is also closely tied to whether or not something is considered art. While art as a creative endeavor is possessed by all humanity in one form or another, in Western culture, art is something that sells. There is a belief that someone who makes art is not an artist if their art is not generating capital. Museums and galleries are the landing points for artists who wish to gain exposure and gaining access to those places is not available to all. Street artists whose work is not found in galleries face a big barrier towards a career as an artist by not being featured in galleries. If it is not in a gallery it is not art. Poet and author Rene Ricard wrote,The Radiant Child,highlighting up and coming street artists, in 1981 in which he states, “to support oneself by the work is the absolute distinction between the amateur and the pro” (Ricard, 1981).Real artists don’t need side jobs and art as a way to level up is something that is part of the appeal.
What’s with art anyway, that/We give it such precedence?Most basic is the common respect,the popular respect for living off one’s vision. My experience has shown me that the artist is a person much respected by the poor because they have circumvented the need to exert the body, even of time,to live off what appears to be the simplest bodily act. This is an honest way to rise out of the slum, using one’s sheer self as the medium, the money earned rather a proof pure and simple of the value of that individual, The Artist. This is abasic class distinction in the perception of art where a picture your son did in jail hangs on your wall as a proof that beauty is possible even in the most wretched; that someone who can make a beautiful thing can’t be all bad; and that beauty has an ability to lift people as a Vermeer copy done in a tenement is surely the same as the greatest mural by some MFA. An object of art is an honest way of making a living, and this is much a different idea from the fancier notion that art is a scam and a ripoff. The bourgeoisie have,after all, made it a scam. But you could never explain to someone who uses God’s gift to enslave that you have used God’s gift to be free (Ricard, 1981).
While Ricard’s sentiment regarding art as a pure form and a way to uplift is inspiring, he is keenly aware that the commodification of the art and the artist cannot be removed from this analysis or the industry itself. Art appreciation and curation is a way for a person to exhibit their cultural capital to others. Those who can purchase and display, or donate art are often of the privileged class, and their aesthetic dictates who can profit from their labor. Work done by the individual artist in the studios and classrooms are evaluated by Art teachers and institutions of higher education who, in large part, decide what makes a creation, art.
Perhaps even more complicated but still rooted in structural racism is the identity of an artist, their type of art and their links to the legacy of cultural appropriation in their work. While art outside of Euro/North of Mexico America is labeled “primitive,” it is also a source of inspiration for many Euro/North of Mexico American artists. So when a Banksy pops up in East Anglia it is all the rage but when an unnamed Black or Brown youth turns a dark alleyway into a colorful landscape it is a crime. Hip-hop culture in the 1980’s grew in response to racism in New York, and the onset of graffiti art as a valuable commodity was found there. Prior to validation received by art critics, graffiti art was not always recognized as art and there are still discrepancies as to what is labeled art and what is labeled vandalism, and in many cases, it boils down to the artist's skin color. Once the art world validated its merit as an art form, a rebrand of graffiti took place but the racial, classist hierarchies still remain. Activists employ art to send a message as a medium for change. Whether it is a Palestinian activist creating a message on the separation wall in the occupied Palestinian territory or a street artist tagging a box car somewhere along the Southern Pacific Railway, these acts do not often merit the label art. It is only when more notable often white artists mimic this type of street art that it becomes worthy of the label. Banksy’s rogue socially just artwork comes with a hefty price tag but affords the buyer the great cultural capital of owning such a piece affording them “woke” status. While technically anonymous, Banksy is presumed to be a white male, and thus is afforded the privilege of being labeled a radical and not a criminal. One painful irony of Banksy’s ability to be in such high demand is on full display at The Walled Off Hotel mere feet away from the separation wall in the occupied West Bank town of Bethlehem where the wall serves as a canvas for oppressed Palestinians to speak their truth with little recognition. This type of cultural appropriation of street art is just another way structural racism plays a key role in Art as a field.
While there remains a huge hierarchy regarding art that is held in high esteem by those who have the privilege to make those values judgements, Art is created by much of humanity for various reasons. Art and activism (artivism) have always co-existed. Many artists use their platform to speak truth to power on varying social issues, and artivism has been central to social movements and cultural critique.
Perhaps one of the most famous examples of market driven valuation of activist street art can be seen in the life and work of John Michelle Basquiat. His value as an artist relied at first onto kenism (Jean-Michel Basquiat, 2021, Schnabel, 1996). His rise to fame came in 1981 when Rene Ricard wrote his famous piece,The Radiant Child. Were it not for this validation of sorts,this prolific artist who created over 3000 paintings and drawings may have gone unacclaimed(Jean-Michel Basquiat, 2021). Posthumously his work has increased in value which sadly also highlights the commodification of pain in the art world (Jean-Michel Basquiat, 2021).Basquiat’s work was artivism in that his pieces spoke to the foundational issues of racism. He was keenly aware of the art community's reaction to him, knowing that those reactions were based in their own preconceived notion of who they thought he was (Jean-Michel Basquiat, 2021, Schnabel,1996). The connection between racism of all forms in American history and art was clear to him and his work like so many others reflected it. In describing this connection, Ricard writes:
To Whites every Black holds a potential knife behind the back, and to every Black the White is concealing a whip. We were born into this dialogue and to deny it is fatuous. Our responsibility is to overcome the sins and fears of our ancestors and drop the whip, drop the knife (Ricard, 1981).
An honest assessment of history will do nothing but strengthen and diversify the art world.Decentering whiteness and the white gaze from the recognition of something being defined as art is in practice by many, but the dominant evaluative measure still lies in a white Eurocentric aesthetic. While the rise to fame of Basquiat is predominantly posthumously, there is an opportunity (as in all of the other fields described in this reader) to spotlight, recognize and learn from artists of color and less visible artists whose art is not featured in galleries or museums. Art teachers introduce their students to the act of art and reference those who came before them. They can play a pivotal role in the creation of their students as artists and the cultural valuation of diverse forms of art.
An example of shining a light on artists who have not been heralded as an acclaimed artist is Pearl Fryer, topiary artist and sculptor who brought international attention to his depressed South Carolina hometown, Bishopville with his incredible topiary work. Fryar is a self-taught artist, most known for topiary artistry and sculpture who uses everyday “junk” and discarded plants from local nurseries. Not only has he put Bishopville on the map with his amazing 3 acretopiary garden visited by thousands annually, he serves as teacher and mentor to South Carolina students both young and old. Fryar is an artist in residence at Coker College, a small liberal arts college in South Carolina (Pierson and Galloway,2006). This gives these students an invaluable opportunity to learn from an acclaimed artist and demonstrates to the predominantly white students there that the artistic community, at least at that institution, values his artistry. Fryar has been commissioned to create gardens similar to his own in spaces in South Carolina, including the McKissick Museum in the capital city of Columbia. Additionally, Fryar has donated many topiary pieces to various museums and the Bishopville city government (Pearl Fryar, 2021).His topiaries are featured on main street in Bishopville as part of their “Streetscape” project. Preservationists are looking for a way to preserve his garden well into the future. As of this writing, Pearl is 81 and still going strong.