When and How Does Culture Become Political?

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Rose Wylie’s art has received great attention in the art world, she has won prestigious awards and prizes such as the Thread Needle Prize, Paul Hamlyn Prize for Visual Arts, John Moores Painting Prize and Charles Wollaston Award among others. She has had her work exhibited at major institutes in London, Seoul, Moscow, Berlin and New York. Her exhibitions have been highly praised by top art critics. “A visual voyage through Wylie’s maze of narrative possibilities and images arising out of the subconscious can become an experience, leaving one feeling breathless but fresh and ready for more.” (Artcritic magazine) In 2010, Wylie was described by Germaine Greer as ‘Britain’s hottest new artist’. (Greer, 2010)The point I am trying to make here is that her work is perceived as great art, in the sense that it is aesthetically pleasing, authentic, and shows creative ingenuity with respect to the medium of painting. It was fairly difficult, despite its perhaps naive or childlike manner, to find a negative critique of her work. That is until I finally reached the comment section from a daily mail article on Wylie entitled ‘A real old master: Artist Rose Wylie, 77, proves it's never too late to realise your dream.’ Here ‘Antony, No longer in Sheffield’ (2013) wrote ‘I see women are given their own special category, yet again, since all the great artists have been men. The childish “paintings” done by this women would not be taken seriously were it not for her gender.’

This ‘critique’ reminded me of what Virginie Despentes described in her book King Kong Theory after having her book dismissed by a man for not being feminine enough. “It was around this time that I discovered, to my amazement, that any idiot with a prick feels he has the right to speak in the name of all men, of virility, of warriors, lords and rulers and-therefore-has the right to lecture me about femininity.” (Despentes, 2009) A rather rash and generalising quote, but I think it emphasises the ignorance ‘Antony, No longer in Sheffield’ has about female artists. Leading on from this, I would now like to discuss an important political issue in the art world, gender.

1985 saw the formation of feminist art group the ‘Guerrilla Girls’. This anonymous group was comprised of female artists whose mission was to draw attention to the race and gender inequality in the art world. They produced and continue to produce tongue-in-cheek posters and billboards which highlight this inequality. [pic 2]

(Guerrilla Girls, 1989)

(Guerrilla Girls, 1985/2015)[pic 3]

In 1985 the Guerrilla Girls highlighted this inequality in the art world, though it did not of course get rid of it. In Chris Krauss’s I Love Dick, she writes how Hannah Wilke did not receive the fame she deserves because of her gender.

‘A few smart men like Peter Frant and Gerrit Lansing recognised the strategy and wit of Hannah’s work, though not, perhaps, the boldness and the cost. The fact she was a genius . At any rate, the controversy around her work never agglomerated into major stardom. By 1980 Guy Trebay was sniffing in the village voice that Hannah’s vagina “is now as familiar to us as an old shoe.” Has anybody ever said this about Chris Burden’s penis?’ (Krauss,1997)

As I stated it in my introduction, art and culture can become political at any time. In Reg Butler’s case it happened before his art had a chance to be made, and was condemned by both political parties and individuals alike. With Rose Wylie the politics came after the art, after she had time to reflect upon it the paintings are political because both interpreted and intended to be. With Ai Weiwei the political intention derived from the politics surrounding the Sichuan earthquake, and the artists desire to create a work which reflected the peoples outrage. It is implicit in the idea of the art work. How art work becomes political is through perception and intention. The Guerrilla Girls had the intention to address the gender inequality in the art world and found an effective method of doing so. While Thomas Hirschhorn unintentionally added a negative political connotation to his art work via the use of a Bic pen. The politicisation of culture can also happen in a variety of ways through intentionality, or subjective interpretations. Through trying to answer the question to the best of my ability, it appears that there are not clear answers. There definite events or reasons for art becoming political, however due to government corruption, racism, gender inequality - amongst many other reasons, work becoming political is a reality of the art world.

Bibliography

Despenetes,V. (2009) King Kong Theory. (Serpent's Tail, London)

Guerrilla Girls. (1989) [poster] Available at: http://www.guerrillagirls.com/posters/helms.shtml

(Accessed: 19 January 2016.)

Guerrilla Girls. (1985/2015) [poster] Available at http://www.guerrillagirls.com/posters/2015billionairesandartrecount.shtml (Accessed: 19 January 2016.)

Hirschhorn,T. (2008) Inaesthetik, issue 1.Doing art politically: what does this mean? (Diaphnes AG, Zurich)

Hirschhorn,T. (2008) Inaesthetik, issue 1. »Bic« and Political Commitment. (Diaphnes AG, Zurich)

Kraus, C. (1997) I Love Dick. (Semiotext, Los Angeles)

Rose + Roy (2015) Directed by Adolfo Doring. [Film]

Spence, R. Financial Times (2015) Installation art: Ai Weiwei at the Royal Academy.

Available at: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ab8388ae-5c56-11e5-9846-de406ccb37f2.html (Accessed: 27 December 2015).

Wylie, R. (2012) On and Off [Oil on Canvas]