The most common response I hear when I tell people that I am an artist, an art and cultural critic, and art therapy inclined is, “I don’t get art.” My reply is always, “Yes you do. You just haven’t been given a vocabulary with which to discuss it confidently.”
In the United States, the arts are considered secondary or tertiary in a way that is different from most other Western societies. Government funding is sparse, and the possibility that artists will be able to support themselves financially through their work alone is low. Stigmas surrounding the words “art” and “artist,” and the problem of distributing adequate resources to fields and organizations related to survival, such as healthcare, contribute to the relegation of the arts to a status of extraneous entertainment. Our schema of art; what it is, how it relates to us, whether or not is has personal, social, or intellectual value, and who does and does not count as an artist, has much to do with this separation of the arts from sociocultural welfare. The role of negligibility art plays in American culture creates trepidation, timidity, confusion, and/or frustration on the part of the general public when it comes to viewing, interpreting, or integrating the arts into daily life.
I have come to believe that too many Americans with opportunity to do so do not engage in the making, viewing, or enjoying of art because they feel as though they do not understand the meaning behind its creation or publication, and I see this as detrimental. In certain ways I do not consider myself a Marxist, however I stand by the philosophical assertion that the human spirit is well served by creative expression. This collection of essays is meant to address questions I often hear about art by exploring what it has been historically, how it has evolved, the ways that it serves and reflects the sociopolitical climate in which it is made, and attempts to answer the question of why, given that even though under a tight budget the arts are the first to get the ax they are not likely to disappear from our society completely, we should care to discuss or advocate the arts.
This blog is a compilation of writing submitted by current students and alumni of the MA Aesthetics and Politics program at the California Institute of the Arts. Our goal is to promote awareness and facilitate critical thinking of the domains of art, aesthetics, culture, and politics, by sharing our research and observations in our various fields of interest within these realms. I speak for everyone in the group when I say we hope you find it useful, informative, and maybe even inspiring.
Celia Gold
