The Emperor Is Naked.

The Guy Fawkes mask is now being used by the group Anonymous
to represent their subordinate gang of computer hackers.

This blog is devoted to exploring the lives and works of the artists in regards to suppression. I chose the title of this site, a quote from the popular graphic novel and movie V for Vendetta, because I believe it perfectly shows the dichotomy between artists and the suppressive powers of their societies; an artist creates illusions and lies to reveal a truth about themselves or their environment, while politicians often use lies to mold the environment to their benefit. (However, the line between reality and falsehood, and even between artist and politician, are not always clear. I want to get into that in later posts, but here's a spoiler: propaganda.)

Artists are one of the biggest groups of political commentators. Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, the band Flobots, Pat Bagley's illustrations in the Salt Lake Tribune's opinion section, the graffiti of Banksey, George Orwell's Animal Farm, and the multimedia pieces by Barbara Kruger are all examples of art used to send a political message; they are fictional creations that use their falsehood to expose truth. Adults aren't the only target audience, there are also artists who make political commentary aimed at children. Take, for example, the fairy tale of The Emperor's New Clothes, a short story by Hans Christen Andersen. For those who have lived in a bubble or under a rock, here's the gist of the story:

An emperor, concerned only with his looks, hires two tailors to create the finest suit ever crafted. The tailors decide to take advantage of the emperor's vanity. They assert that they have a beautiful and rare material that is invisible only to those with incredible stupidity. The emperor, not wanting to appear unfit for his position, lies and says he can see this nonexistent fabric. The tailors pretend to dress him and take their payment without having actually done any work. The emperor, proud of his rare purchase, parades naked in front of his people, explaining to the crowd that those who can't see the fabric are stupid. His subjects, not wanting to admit that they see no clothes, don't question the situation until a small girl points out the emperor's nakedness. Immediately after, as though a spell had been lifted, the crowd realizes the hoax and begins mocking their ruler. The emperor returns home naked and ashamed.

Andersen's tale can easily be interpreted as being a commentary about societies who are engaged in (as Vaclev Havel would call it) "a collective lie." The author Theodore Seuss Geisel, affectionately known by  kids in the United States as Dr. Seuss, was also an artist who portrayed political messages to children through poetry and illustration. Maybe you read some of his more famous works:

The one that will always hold a special place in my heart is
The Importance of Environmental Awareness in Industrialized Society.

To round out this post, I just have this to say: art and politics are intricately linked. Perhaps I'll focus more on the works of the artists I mentioned here in future. For now, much of the inspiration for this blog stems from an artist who turned into a key political activist during the post-totalitarian suppression of Czechoslovakia: the playwright Vaclav Havel (who I briefly mentioned above). His views and works, particularly the book The Power of the Powerless, will be used as a common thread to tie the posts of this blog together.

The Prague Spring is usually understood as a clash between two groups on the level of real power: those who wanted to maintain the system as it was and those who wanted to reform it. It is frequently forgotten, however, that this encounter was merely the final act and inevitable consequence of a long drama originally played out chiefly in the theatre of the spirit and the conscience of society. And that somewhere at the beginning of this drama, there were individuals who were willing to live within the truth, even when things were at their worst. These people had no access to real power, nor did they aspire to it. The sphere in which they were living the truth was not necessarily even that of political thought. They could equally have been poets, painters, musicians, or simply ordinary citizens who were able to maintain their human dignity.

- Power of the Powerles