The Feeling of Art

Art has always, and will always be a large part of modern society.  Many of the most revered persons in history have been artists.  Beethoven, Michelangelo, Van Gough, and Mozart are just a few of the examples of the impact that art can have on society.  These names have become known worldwide for the way that they changed the world through their expression through art.  The main way that these artists have made such an impact is because their art draws great emotion from almost everybody that listens to or views it.  And this is how art can have such an impact, because it can conjure emotions within us that we ourselves didn’t even know we had.  This is also what can make art such a valuable and nasty tool.  In many instances it has been used to bring up feelings of inadequacy, guilt, need, or even hatred.  It has been widely used as a political propaganda tool throughout the ages.  These instances bring up the question of when does something change from being just are to being a tool for more sinister purposes.

In the book An Artists of the Floating World, the main character Masuji Ono, is a well known artist of moderate influence.  Granted, he may not be an everyday name like the ones that I listed above, but he is known as an accomplished artist (well, I guess you could say that any artist who makes an actual living in art is accomplished…but I digress) and he at least has some influence on a regional scale.  Initially in his career he was known for paintings that would stir up the usual emotions that art is known for, but his influence then takes a turn.  Ono makes the conversion from an artist of more casual paintings to one that is hired by the government for political propaganda.  But the question becomes is this political propaganda still art?

And, to put it bluntly, I would have to say yes.  Art is created to evoke emotion, and these propaganda posters certainly do that.  The emotion may not be positive, but it is certainly there.  An example of this is the emotion that Ono’s more propaganda oriented paintings brought out within his fellow artists (Ishiguro, p. 164).  Haven’t many of the most well known artists been at first rejected by society because their art doesn’t follow the norm, but it is still art none the less.  This is very similar to what Ono experienced,  but the paintings that he was doing were art in his eyes.

In this discussion I have in a way outlined a way that I judge something as art.  It is simply if it evokes emotion.  That emotion may be positive or negative, sad or happy, but in the end it is an emotion and I think that is way makes it art.