Guernica and the Torture of Politics Essay Example for Free

Guernica and the Torture of Politics EssayWhen Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) painted Guernica (1) in 1937, the painting was not only a pictorial documentation on the horrors that took propose on a sm every Basque town in northern Spain on April 26th, 1937, but a testament to the tragedy of all war that humankind advantage upon itself. Picasso says he created the painting to bring the worlds attention to the Spanish civil war and to General Francos unusually cruel tactics to shew and win this war. In the case of Guernica, this painting has monumental political significance and is still viewed today as greatest anti-war symbol of our time. This massive, mural- sized painting (11 ft. gangling by 25 ft. wide) is painted in oil and currently on exhibit at the Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid. Even if we remove the political significance of this about monochromatic painting, we are still left with one of Picassos masterpieces of cubist composition. The twisted, disjointed figures undulatin g across the canvas create a tapestry of suffering in sharp contrasts of black, white and blue. The Spanish Republican government commissioned Picasso in 1937 to create a large mural painting to help bring to the featherbrained the misery of the Spanish Civil War to an international audience.Rather than seeing this very political commission as a limitation, Picasso embraced this opportunity as a platform to use his mastery of oil painting to affect political and popular opinion. Even those who are Basque or Franco sympathizers can not escape from the loggerheaded sadness and despair they are confronted with in this painting. In no way is this paintings political tie a limitation to its greatness. Picassos Guernica has been exhibited end-to-end the world, viewed by millions, and many would argue that this was Picassos greatest achievement.Fast-forward 70 years to 2007 Different artists, different authorities, different wars. No longer does the general populous commence its infor mation in newspapers or the radio as they did in 1937. Our access to information is now instant and mainlined. In 2004 accounts of torture, sodomy and rape at the Abu Ghraib multitude prison in Iraq began to surface. The world, including its artists began to react. Richard Serra (born 1939) created a series of litho-crayon drawings depicting a scene of an Abu Ghraib prisoner being tortured (2), arms outstretched like a saviour figure, with the words Stop Bush on either side of his hooded face.The Whitney Museum of the Statesn Art used images of this drawing for posters of their 2006 Whitney Biennial at a time when America was still deeply divided over the continuance of this war. This mass-produced, photographic image had become a symbol of the anti-war movement in the United States. But unalike Picassos Guernica, Serra is working directly from a photograph of the actual event, simplifying it into a cartoon like image. Thus, Serras anti-war statement does not appear to be a timele ss piece of art as Picassos did. If we take away the political significance from Serras drawings we are left with a compositionally stark subject.The politics must be included in Serras drawings for us to have an appreciation (or hatred, depending on your political view) of it. This is, perhaps, intentional on Serras part, being a minimalist sculptor, to strip the very concept of torture and war down to its most essential parts. The speed at which Serra created this drawing is parallel to our contemporary, insatiable appetency for news and information. It is possible that Serra wanted this drawing, like the actual photographic image itself, to be ephemeral viewed and discarded to make way for the next headline.In conclusion, the political art that can align itself with our speed of information will be the political art that is successful in the future. Like it or not, we are all involved in politics in some way and affected by the decisions our governments make. If art is a mirror of our surroundings, then at some orient its going to cross over into the realm of politics. We can only hope that our contemporary artists will utilize the same care and skills to create political work with mature political significance rather than first-idea, sophomoric vision.