Critical Art Ensemble Analysis

This article was inspiring to say the least as I never knew such like minded people existed in this godforsaken world. In saying this, I do not consider myself to be one of these people or of these people, but I wish I were, as I only read the introduction, as assigned, and skimmed the rest of the chapters. But, I do understand greatly where they are coming from, as I can relate heavily and am now very interested in what they do.

I personally am a very very politically minded person; keeping up with what is going on by doing lots and lots of reading and not just watching CNN or Fox News. This politicalism was not birthed by my own self as it runs in my family. My dad, now a 60 yr. old insurance agent who ended up buying into the man, used to be an afro bearing, pot smoking, psychedelic hippy activist product of the 1960’s. He marched with the Black Panthers for civil rights, was pepper sprayed with Abbie Hoffman at the ’68 Democratic National Convention, went to music festivals, and hitchhiked through Europe spreading the word. I am a very very jealous son. But to continue…

I often find myself using art, not my photography, as I have had trouble with this, to express my political opinions, such as with my last project i.e. the pro-abortion t-shirt. I have done paintings, drawings, poster designs, and t-shirt designs to convey my personal political beliefs, but I have never had the guts to take it to the streets and daringly display to the public. My art covers the walls of my apartment, never to be seen by the public eye. Whereas, these people are active with their beliefs and I have the utmost respect for them for doing so.

What I love most is their ideals and use of tactical media, often parodying the political and social media agendas they are working to rid of. This, I feel, is the best way to get your message out there as it makes said party look utterly and completely brainless. By borrowing imagery and ideals and turning them around on the said party, it becomes obvious who is the target. It creates clarity not able to be created any other way. And by doing so, this helps successfully portray your important, necessary ideals. Again, I have always been a fan of this method.

Going back to my dad’s experience and that of the 1960’s, these people remind me of the Yippy group lead by Abbie Hoffman, mentioned previously, and their choosing to campaign Yippy the Pig for president. They used the methods of our politicians, the enemy, directly by use of very public political campaign and the voting system. They parodied the candidates themselves, directly, by using the pig; relaying the fact that a pig could do a better job than what these old dudes were doing.

It is sad that there are not more people like this in the world; rebels with causes, taking action, using public space, art, and media to spread the word; to actively change the world for the better.