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Art and the Election: The Obama Art Blog
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Image: The Obama Art Report
Art and politics go hand in hand. Political and propaganda art fascinate me (my favorites: soviet, cultural revolution, WWII)--the images and typography are particularly striking because they are made to mobilize large groups of people. The visual has and remains a powerful political tool and can communicate nuances (intended or unintended, good or bad) that are not always articulated by the spoken word.
This year's presidential election has inspired legions of artists. And no wonder...we live in exciting times: the democrats are on the rise again, we have an African American man on the road to the white house, a very close presidential race, a floundering economy, a national deficit that threatens to swallow us whole (at this rate, it looks like i'll be working until i'm in the grave. And paying an arm and a leg for health insurance), foreclosures left and right, and increasingly weakening foreign relations....among other things.
Much of the art inspired by this year's election are pro-Obama...and a great many of these draw heavily from the style of Shepard Fairey, whose Progress posters and stickers have been sold out for weeks. This is not surprising since Fairey's powerful and bold style, combined with his street art ethos makes his work effective for mobilizing people and creating memorable images. Robert Indiana, a HUGE artist (this guy is so canon that I learned about him in an art history survey course) most famous for his Love sculpture, created a similar graphic using the buzz word of the Obama camp, "hope."
The Obama Art Report blog documents Obama-inspired work in galleries and on the street. Though the blog primarily features images of Barack Obama, a few artists have created satirical renderings of Republican party members and of course, John McCain and Sarah Pailin. There's also one of our favorite pundit, Stephen Colbert. I got a kick out of it. Check it out.
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