TBD on Ning

What is the value of Art to society?

I was inspired to ask this question after my daughter read aloud to me the essay she was required to write in class (40 min) last Thursday. She's home visiting for the weekend, but is due to leave in a few minutes.

Art Does Not Keep Secrets

    Art does not hide raw reality. Unlike other forms of media, such as newspapers and television, it strips off the polished façade from society and exposes the appalling truth about social issues escapes us. Art has been created for centuries to portray world events and survives, “the limits of human mortality, reminding us that art has a peculiar power different from the images or scripts that we encounter in media on a daily basis. Whereas a daily newspaper or a TV show may inform us about what is going on in the world, its effect does not last as long as those of art works do.” As lasting remnants of events that would otherwise be washed away from mind’s eye, Picasso’s painting, Guernica, and Kevin Carter’s photo on starvation will last beyond our lifetime, relaying its message and purpose for future generations to come.
    Art is abstract and subjective to its viewer. Unlike newspapers and television, which do not always give the mass public the exact story. When you view a piece of artwork, your perspective is unique to the person next to you. Neither is wrong, but each gets a different experience. On the other hand, public media gives a defined story from that station or company’s perspective. they mold their stories around what they want you to think or to pique your interest for viewing. Compared to Art, a medium that does not manipulate or have a direct route of thought, public media is aggressive and definite.
    Art allows you to think. Newspapers and television press what you should think. Anybody can create art, without qualification, because it is an expression of thought and purpose. Even after the artist has died, his work will last and relay its intended message to future audiences. Deceased artists such as Picasso and Kevin Carter have created the greatest pieces of our time, and even after passing away, we continue to appreciate their work. Through Picasso’s piece, Guernica, we experience the Spanish Civil War through our own interpretation. In Kevin Carter’s photo of a starving, Sudanese child, we see the horror that is occurring in third world countries today.
    Picasso’s Guernica, exposes the brutal extent of the Spanish Civil War. He uses gray-based colors to portray the grief and madness experienced by a woman who lost her child, horses who have gone wild, and people who have been trampled on. Aside from the painting’s tone, the style is loose and dreary, representing how the people of Spain are sinking into the abyss and the bodies are distorted. The sun at the top does not even shine on the people; however, a light bulb inside the center of the sun illuminates the horror. Newspapers and television could not be compared to the depths of this painting.
    Kevin Carter’s photo of a starving, Sudanese child, about to be eaten by a vulture, depicts the devastating poverty in third world countries. In the picture, the child is so malnourished, that it is bending over in pain, probably from bone deficiency, as it is stalked like prey. It shows that those who are weak will not survive. For a while, the media did not mention the social issues of other places in the world, but recently it has been brought to attention through people like Kevin Carter whose pictures traumatized the nation. We can choose not to believe an image like that could be true, but this photo, unlike public media, does not sugarcoat the grim reality of our world.
    Art illuminates the shadowed crevices of our society and instills truth. With artwork such as Picasso’s Guernica and Carter’s photo on starvation, our virgin eyes are exposed to the extreme atrocities that occur in our world. Television and newspapers can create a distorted image of reality, but art will not lie. We cannot suppress events, such as those mentioned above, from memory; the existence of art allows us to experience the intent of the artist and the meaning of the artwork subjectively even after the artist’s death. The message will never die.