Anarchy in the arts - Rob Oldfield

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1 Anarchy in the arts - Rob Oldfield I wanted to explore anarchy in art, we ve all seen a piece of art on a random wall somewhere, protests on our favourite news channels, but have you ever wondered why they created the piece of art? Or created the protest? I feel that everyone has a voice in society, however the way in which certain people choose to do so can be taken in many ways, some use their voice through freedom of speech, some use music to put a point across, then there are those that use the work of art to get their feelings down on paper about the subject involved. We have our favourite pieces of art we love to admire, our favourite artists, genre, media, it can be just a hobby for some, but a passion for many others who want to see a change in today s society, people can get attached to a certain movement or artist and become inspired by their actions, and want to become or even imitate them. The research of this essay will be to see how anarchy is performed in some state of art, from existing art movements and street artists who try and communicate a political message in some way within artistic form, researching into the famous pieces of art that have caused controversy over the years, giving my own view on each subject, as well as creating my own case studies, designing or replicating my own sort of political motive and choosing a subject to create the designs for, then possibly placing each design somewhere, within the city of Sheffield possibly, certain areas that can gain a popular presence, possibly show off the designs on social media also, nowadays everyone is digital in some way with social media being ever so popular in this day and age, creating some sort of trend would grab people s attention, especially with the election coming up in a few weeks time. Overall I want this essay to showcase the message that anarchy within art can create a message and awareness to those that there are people out there with a voice and that they won t back down from society, they will cause havoc in certain ways to get their voices heard and choose whatever media they can to promote their work.

2 Who is there in past/today s society that created such anarchy? It s always fascinated me, how something can start from just an idea in your head, to then becoming such a mainstream topic, especially in anarchy, there s been many a time I ve sat there considering creating something that could cause havoc and put a message across about today s society, but I wanted to look at those around today and back when it all started at how they put their ideas and ways into society to bring about creating some sort of anarchy and why. So, I went about researching into past and existing art movements and what their motive is, and what their aim is when it comes to creating some form of anarchy. DADA I ve put a bit about DADA in my research blog, but wanted to mention them in this essay as they are one of the first sort of art movements that came about, they were formed in the aftermath of WW1 in Zurich, their work was distributed as satirical and nonsensical in nature, they also have political affinities with the radical left. used a variety of outcomes to get their message across in society, from poetry, photography, sculpture, painting, and collage, this had inspired artists in many cities to create their own movements throughout the world, I feel intrigued to see how DADA would have been like in today s society, their avant-garde, gothic, grunge sort of style within their propaganda was something that I would have loved to have seen in today s world, could you imagine DADA taking the mick out of Donald Trump, or the British election coming up in a few week s time? The events in the eastern world such as the war on Syria, ISIS, and how they would go about creating their propaganda artwork. (dada propaganda)

3 Fluxes Another art movement was that of Fluxes, another avant-garde collective of artists and composers founded in the 1960s and continuing today unlike some other art movements. Fluxes started from being a small sort of a shared attitude, rather than an art movement with the roots of the movement being in experimental music. Fluxes played an important role, opening the definitions of what art can be. It profoundly influenced the nature of art production in the 1960s, which has seen a diverse range of art forms and approaches existing and flourishing side-by-side. Fluxes didn t have one style, instead their artists use a different range of media, processes to create various activity, in some ways, they create random performances with whatever materials they can find to create the art. Joseph Beuys, Dick Higgins, Alice Hutchins, Yoko Ono, Nam June Paik, Ben Vattier, Robert Watts, Benjamin Patterson and Emmett Williams were some of the big names that were involved in Fluxes in the 1960 s My own personal view on Fluxes isn t that great, I m not a massive fan of music or classical music or even art, I just feel this is a pointless movement in my eyes, I can t understand what the motive is behind the organisation, hence why I haven t heard of them, but there might be people out there who are fascinated by Fluxes, it s just a matter of an opinion, If I wanted to look for something that created anarchy then this would probably be my last port of call.

4 Clandestine Rebel Clown Army (CIRCA) A more modern sort of anarchist group, founded in 2003, in the UK, this far-left movement group that participates in non-violent acts against corporate globalisation, war, and on other issues. The groups attire is that of an army appearance, with brightly coloured trimmings and political logos. This gives the movement a comical atmosphere and serve to maintain anonymity during protests, instead of guns, the group uses water pistols and feather dusters, then finally, clown make-up, creating a sense of ridiculousness which seeks to challenge preconceptions of radical activists. My view on this activist group is that it's something different, something quirky, something completely out of the blue when it comes to protests, the fact it s a peaceful protest with no violence involved is quite surprising in my eyes, as I think this sort of movement could trigger violent scenes from opposing activist groups or general members of the public, I think if I hadn't had changed the subject of my essay then I could've possibly looked into this more and got it involved in my essay in some way, maybe dressing myself as one of the clown army, or implementing some sort of design somehow. From the above research on selected movement groups, for me, there is a genuine reason why people create these movements, they don t do it out of hate or prejudice, but to create a message and get that message out there in some way that they can get the public and the media s attention, they don t cause unrest, unless it s brought upon them, they just go about their own sort of style and way in which to get their voice out in society.

5 What motivates people to commit such anarchy? To me, the motivation for people to commit something in an anarchist way is the way society works today, an example for this would be the Million Mask March, the motive for the march varies, it has relevance to the Anonymous movement, corruption in politics, police violence, and self-governance. The marches allow ordinary people to collaborate to create change through alterations to their governments. Within the art scene, it s come a long way in recent years as an alternative way of getting your voice heard, you d have to look at the mainstream sort of artists or popular figures and how they go about creating some sort of anarchist art, preaching a political message to society, and how/why they have done it, through stuff such as street art, literature, videos, music etc. This case study will focus on a selection of artists who play with the political motives of getting their voice heard in society. I found an article on a Sheffield based artist, known as Bubba2000, instead of looking at the likes of Banksy and Shepard Fairey again after looking at them in my blog, I wanted to look closer to home, especially at an artist who is creating art in the same sort of subject. Many of the works Bubba has created go into that sort of style that DADA replicate, that grunge sort of style but with Bubba s own twist of creating stencil art, which then takes a dig at society, almost Banksy like. Across Ecclesall Road, Bubba has many political digs stuck up across the length of the road, trying to communicate some sort of message to everyday life, his latest piece titled Free muggings...um... HUGGINGS was a swipe at the current gang culture and crime that had risen in Sheffield over the past months, which is found outside the Harley, creating a public spot for people to get hugged, instead of mugged, many of the artist s work are those which tries to take a dig at society and everyday life, but for me they aren t focused on a certain subject, just random sprayed images around Sheffield. For me it s as though it s a hobby more than creating a message, which is good in a sense as we get to see the talent of the artist, but as for trying to make a voice on certain matters in today s age, it doesn t have any legs for me as his work is scattered across various ideas/motives instead of focusing on what matters to himself more.

6 So, if you re wanting to look at those who have put their mark on society and wanted to create more of a message, then you would have to look at the likes of Banksy for creating that dark, humorous style of art that takes a dig at society and the government and has a political meaning behind each stencil or piece or graffiti. A simple poster on a different range of subjects for me won t get a clear message across, however if you focus on one area, create a range of designs to attract attention and get the public speaking, so going into the next case study, I decided to take it upon myself to create my own piece/s of artwork that focus on a matter that is around now, researching into past anarchist artwork then replicating those in some way in which I can get my own message across, and to get the artwork placed around the city, up on social media and raise an issue with the general election that s coming up in June, I feel this is a perfect subject to investigate with it being a few weeks away. What can I design to get my message across, what media can I use? Next I wanted to create my own pieces of artwork, but not from scratch, I wanted to take something that was already out there in the public eye from past movements, film, news, media etc. and put my own take on the matter I chose the general election taking place in June, as I said above I feel that this is a perfect subject to research into, something up and coming. I went about researching into past movement artwork, starting off with the classic punk band and art collective, called Crass and their LP covers. Crass promoted anarchism as a political ideology, a way of life and a resistance movement. Crass popularised the anarcho-punk movement of the punk subculture, advocating direct action, animal rights, feminism and environmentalism. The band used and advocated a DIY punk ethic approach to its sound collages, leaflets, albums and films. From One of their most famous LP covers were those that targeted Margaret Thatcher, so my idea came about replicating this with the UK politicians who are standing for election in June, in the same sort of style that Crass had created over the years. For me this is a sort of style that can send a message across the spectrum, that etched out eyes with the decaying, grunge design, as

7 though the person in the design is being targeted in a different way in which you see from other artists/movements, like a sort of horror poster. So, I went about redesigning my own version of the LP cover but in a poster format, giving each design a specific caption that relates to each politician and what they have been saying in the tabloids and on popular media channels, for instance, Theresa May, always talks about having a safe and stable Britain so that would be the caption I used for her. Corbyn to me is just a threat to our national security and Paul Nuttall from UKIP is just an old-fashioned racist in my eyes, but each to their own. As you can see from the designs below, taking influence from the Thatcher LP cover and creating my own spin on the design. (See attached posters) Looking at the outcomes, I feel this would be a perfect type of anarchist art to be used around the city or even the country, with the election weeks away, seeing images pop up with certain messages would cause unrest and controversy with the public and the political parties themselves, giving an indication that this piece of art could cause so much debate on the election. (Crass LP Thatcher cover) Another design I was contemplating was that of a movie type poster, mocking each party member in some way, I felt the Trainspotting poster for T2 had potential, it was just coming up with some sort of idea to execute the design, I then went about superimposing each plitical member s face onto each of the cahracters, with a controversial caption about each member, in some sort of graffiti style text on the cubicle wall behind them, with the titile Twatspotting replacing the famous Trainspotting title of the poster, yet agains as mentioned above, this could be another sort of media that has the same effect on the public, maybe some sort of social media campaign possibly? Or yet again, placed around the country. It also has that humourus eddge behind a campaign, as in regards to the Crass

8 inspired LP cover, the T2 influence means you can have a bit of fun wih the design, and not get to personal or take it over the top. (See Attached design of Twatspotting) (T2 Trainspotting poster) Conclusion Finally, my outlook into anarchy in the arts was to research into the different movements and orginisations there are past and present and what they try to achieve when it comes to creating some sort of political motive on today s society and in what form of media they try to accomplish through this, as well as creating my own sort of inspired political design with a clear message and subject of what the design was for, I will continue to follow and research more into this subject, especially with the elections coming up as to see what other types of medium come out throughtout the next few weeks. The ways in which anarchy is used nowadyas unlike the past has completely evolved, we have so many platforms in which to create such chaos within the media, and to jeopordise others success in life, to have a voice, to eradicate those in power, to make change in the world, like I mentioned above, some see it as a hobby or their passion to succeed. My proposal is to show that anyone can create something that has a meaningful message to society, visualising what they can create and achieve through the sense of art, design, media within various fields to create a powerful message across the nation to achieve their goal, that can reach an expansive audience and put your mark down on a subject you want to see change. Bibliography

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