When Art Meets Politics

Podcast Review
I’ve never been very interested in politics – but it doesn’t take a genius (or a politician) to know that this past election has probably been one of the biggest political events in our lifetime. For the last 18 or so months, it has been nearly impossible to go a few days without hearing some news about the presidential race. It wasn’t much of a surprise, therefore, when I found myself at the Nabi Gallery one afternoon with a few enthusiastic friends of mine who were excitedly discussing the upcoming election. Somehow, I’d been conscripted into attending “Art for Obama”, a fundraising art exhibition at Nabi, whose ultimate goal was to support Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.

The exhibit was fairly small and out-of-the-way, with 25 artists participating and 46 pieces on display and up for auction. I was (and to some extent, still am) a bit dubious about the effectiveness of holding such a fundraiser so close to Election Day. The exhibit concluded on October 11th, while the auction took place on October 2nd. It felt a bit close too to the climactic November 4th to make much of any real difference for the election. My friends, as well as some of the other attendees, however, were obviously more passionate about their support for Obama rather than the actual artwork or auction (which was, despite the relatively “cheap” price, admittedly well beyond the means of mere college freshmen). They spoke with enthusiasm not so much for the art exhibit, but for showing their support for their candidate. They were excited about being, perhaps for the first time as legal adults, a little part of something larger than themselves – even if being “a part of it” was just going to an art exhibit.

As for the art itself, for an exhibit whose purpose was primarily political, one might have expected the art to be more political as well. I was surprised to see that a majority of the artwork had nothing to do with Obama. In fact, most of it had nothing to do with politics at all. It seemed a great deal of the artwork was, in essence, a donation by an artist to Obama’s campaign – both in support of the candidate, as well as to promote the artist him/herself to a broader audience. There was an eclectic mix of everything – photographs, paintings, sculptures; from landscapes to portraits, etchings to nearly unrecognizable blotches of form and color. There was a detailed rendition of boats sailing on stormy blue seas, and there was a woodcut portrait of George Washington. I was not particularly impressed by much of the artwork – the artists were certainly by no means “bad” at what they did, but there also wasn’t very much work that would truly amaze a viewer, whether because of technique or innovative approach.

In retrospect, I believe that it would be difficult to derive any particular symbolic meaning from the “Art for Obama” exhibit. It was, after all, simply a fundraiser for Obama’s campaign. Realistically, there was no absolute theme for the exhibition – the pieces were united not because of their subject, symbolism, or even for their artistic value. In reality, they were simply in the same exhibit together. But in a more philosophical light, perhaps one can learn to see the real value of the exhibit with respect to society – not in the fact that it makes money for the campaign, but in the fact that these varied artists – despite their obvious differences in medium, style, genre, and views – could come together and unite for a cause.