There is nothing new about artists poking the bear for a variety of causes from government inaction to government action to the need to help all-powerful godheads whose power may be waning. But then again, artists need sponsors and money to protest about anything and there would seem to be no shortage of support. In Renaissance times Paolo Uccello, recipient of a commission from the Salimberi family in 1432 took care not to bite the hand that fed him and produced the magnificent three-panel “Battle of San Romano” to commemorate Florence’s win over Siena no matter what he might have thought about it all. A job was a job after all. Goya in creating a series of etchings on the atrocities of war enacted on civilians and soldiers between 1808-1814 knew enough not to publish them. Political subjects have always been fair game and artists more than willing to play it
Perhaps prison is less of a threat than it was under Salimberi and other Renaissance benefactors let alone in Napolean’s time . Martyrdom for the cause comes with the territory in 2021 as Wi Wei Wei, Pussy Riot, Luis Manuel Otero Alcântara and hundreds of others languish periodically in cells under a variety of decrees designed to protect ‘stability’. In the case of Luke Cornish, he was obliged, last week to remove particularly ‘offensive pieces’ from the walls of galleries and publish a mea culpa. Apparently, there are still sacred political cows.
It’s a while ago but Juan Davila’s Stupid as a Painter and Andre Serrano’s Piss Christ made the news for a day when police arrived and insisted on a screen being erected should public sensibility be offended. The solitary voice of protest that fomented their actions went unheralded but no doubt said voice spoke for ‘the people’. Last week though it was a blood-soaked flag in Hobart, or at least the threat of one, that raised eyebrows. Flags are sacrosanct, history a delicate subject at the best of times and blood, Aboriginal or otherwise, a no-no. David Walsh was cartooned in a state of bemusement as owner of Mona and sponsor of said piece of offensive art but given the popularity of the wall of 151 vaginas, the poo machine and Mike Parr, performance artist, locked in an underground bunker, he is no doubt entitled to a little bemusement. Single-handedly he is keeping Hobart afloat economically and visitor numbers to explore the underground caverns of Mona are at an all-time high. Isn’t this why people go to Mona in the first place? It’s not as though they don’t know what they are getting into. Australians at least don’t believe in locking up artists unlike dozens of countries around the world. We just erect discrete screens around art that raises eyebrows but then again, political figures in Australia simply accept that they are going to be regularly lampooned and shrug it off. I‘ve yet to see a government collapse on the basis of a cartoon let alone a painting.
On the other side of the world though the power of the media to foment change seems to be formidable. However, it is one thing to have endlessly broadcast footage of a man dying at the hands of the police in the US but quite another in my mind to be prosecuting poets [a lot of them jailed in recent times] and painters. After all, who reads poets these days unless its Rumi with a daily dose of wisdom. Even journalists [a lot of them in jail as well] turning out a well-formed paragraph don’t have the pulling power of one piece of video on rapid repeat. Of course, we can all blame Donald Trump for subverting the whole idea of news and critical writing until no one knows what is fake or not. Unless of course you are attacking a religious figure and then street riots and destruction of offices are par for the course. I always thought that God figures had all of the ultimate power to destroy humankind or at least make their lives a misery in perpetuity and didn’t need the help of fanatics but history is full of instances from the Crusades onwards where the threat of damnation simply wasn’t enough in the short term. Artists, being a special breed, need no encouragement to take up the banner and storm the barricades.
You’d think for the number of times Wei Wei has been imprisoned along with countless other visual artists that governmental sensitivity was limited to a few totalitarian regimes who believe in the power of art to transform politics and bring down politicians of all ilks and colours but according to a number of website gatekeepers who document such things, imprisonment of artists is widespread and widely reported. Imprisonment and censure don’t seem to dampen the ardour however. Artists will always feel the righteous need to comment, authoritarian and democratic governments notwithstanding, but wherein lies the power to actually change anything. For all of the artistic, journalistic, musical, poetic and dance [even dancers…….ask The Oromo 7 in Ethiopia] critiques of governmental and social policies[events/stances, how many galvanised the political establishment into action other than to remove dissenting voices to some remote corners of the world? Do we really believe that a static image or a few words on a page in going to make a difference in 2021? Maybe I’m just naive.
But perhaps the untimely death of the artist at the hands of the state was only taken seriously in bygone days – there being no social media to round up a group of ardent supporters to either condemn the artists or raise a collective voice about freedom of speech. Mind you William Hogarth in 18th century England had no problems lampooning the establishment in printed form – in fact the political opposition delighted in it all and wouldn’t have had it any other way and had no intention of locking him up or of censuring him.
So, what is the fear? Robert Storr suggests that it is not the artists at all but the deep-seated mistrust [Storr 2020] of the common people who have a capacity for tolerance, for disquiet, for violence, for candour and will take to the streets out of respect f for the spirit of the law. Resorts to the non-existent ‘laws of decency’ or ‘common sense’ have raised up over time the likes of Hilton Kramer in the USA, Mary Whitehouse in the UK and one Pauline Hanson in Australia who all claim to be in an eternal fight on behalf of the souls of the common people who may need protecting from the artistic community.
For all of the publicity, none of them made the slightest difference, as I doubt any of the well-crafted words of poets [ honestly, poets?], rap artists [who cares these days about a 1980s music? style] or dancers in Ethiopa [enticement according to the charge sheet], have or will do any more than add another paragraph to the news cycle. Fears of sedition from fragile totalitarian regimes, the undermining of all-powerful god figures, the bringing into the light the nefarious dark practises of governments or the public-profile raising of humanities’ worst traits, will always provide the raw material of personal expression whether out in the public arena or inside the walls of a jail cell. If history has taught us anything [ Sting doubts that it has], it is that Art and artists are at best a nuisance and the sacrifice of a few on the altar or public, private or governmental propriety will continue unabated. Should that stop Ai Wei Wei or Pussy Riot or David Walsh? Of course not.
However, the famous photograph of Ai raising a middle finger at Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, will stop a Hong Kong gallery from displaying the work in spite of ethical concerns by the gallery. Apparently, it would violate the national security law implemented last summer by “spreading hatred against China.” Given the current political climate his would hardly be the only voice but he is no doubt inwardly delighted to be drawing so much attention.
Storr. R Writings on art Heni 2020 p 243-44