How to tell the difference between real art and propaganda
Anyone who sat through the recent online public meeting regarding political public art in San Jose can be forgiven for wondering where the guiding principles were for our public art curators in the department of Cultural Affairs. People who opposed the Fallon statue spoke from the (often convincing) talking points about biases implicit in the Fallon statue, but then went strangely silent when confronted with the explicit biases of the Americana painting. The Remodern Review provides the sort of context the city's meeting managers whiffed on, and may provide thoughtful viewers of this issue with some food for thought.
As stated in the 2018 book, Remodern America: How the Renewal of the Arts Will Change the Course of Western Civilization:
“There are important distinctions between art and propaganda. Although both are forms of visual communication, their aims are completely different. Great art explores the mysteries of human experience. Propaganda seeks to influence an intellectual decision by stirring up obscuring clouds of emotionalism.
“Strong art reaches universal, shared experience by honestly presenting the results of self-exploration. Propaganda seeks to substitute that universal appeal with the presentation of ideology it assumes to be commonly held by all right-thinking people.”
Propaganda is distortion, intended to drive the audience into a pre-determined conclusion. It is far removed from the mysterious communion genuine art provides.
Despite the popular pose struck by many contemporary artists, who fancy they are bold rebels making a stand against injustice, the ideas advocated by most of today’s political art are actually advancing the values of the doube dealing so-called elites they pretend to criticize.
The contemporary art scene was weaponized by the Postmodern deconstruction of reality, where The Narrative and the will to power matters more than truth. There are no consequences for hypocrisy in the Postmodern mindset. Any actions are permissible to the select few, as long as the correct ideas are publicly endorsed.
Enduring changes start in the arts. The power of art to define our way of life, to show us how to be, has been tragically underestimated. The Postmodern corruption I first observed in 1980s art school has seeped out and tainted our entire society. Our cultural institutions no longer provide us knowledge, education, real news, or responsible governance. We are enmeshed in an entire ecosystem of lies, sustained by the media, the academy, Big Tech, sellout corporations, and traitorous politicians. The monopoly is enforced by censorship and retaliations. You would think by observing the actions of the New Aristocracy of the Well Connected, our Constitutional Republic is dead; all that remains is for them to loot and oppress the rest of us into oblivion.
One of the ways to counter this ruthless assault is with art. Not the bait and switch artifice which the establishment has pulled, substituting leftist activism for creativity. There is no chance newly created real art will receive institutional support these days. Based on the art world news I follow, the Inner Party has decreed the mission is now supposedly countering racism through the flaunting of blatant and despicable racist behaviors and attitudes. All the museum, gallery and artist sheep are dutifully baaing along. It’s all just another manipulative social engineering project, like everything the Cultural Marxists produce. This will do nothing but further alienate the people from the resources real art provides.
The elitist-driven degeneration of art into propaganda denies our society the inspiration to live up to ideals: the encouragement to think and feel deeply, the yearning to harmonize with truthy and beauty. The establishment blocks real art from us because they know how weak we are without it.
We need art as the timeless experience which is as old as humanity itself. For, as President John F Kennedy noted, “We must never forget that art is not a form of propaganda; it is a form of truth.
Read the whole thing here.
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Photo taken by Manuel Galrinho.