I think there is a resurgence of nationalist type art. I don't mean state-sponsored propaganda art but rather a desire to recapture something native, even at the risk of being nostalgic. It's a spontaneous effort to retain cultural identities in an ever expanding global anonymity. That's not to say that one is inherently better than the other. It's just the convergence of two historical forces.
People have acquired a deep sense of who they are through symbols of their particular national cultures. Their beliefs, their moral outlooks, their life aspirations are shaped by those symbols. They've gone to war over and over to protect them or to expand them. But now there is a sprading globalism, a commonality of values, dominated, as always, by commerce. A reshaping is taking place that affects people everywhere in both advanced and "emerging" cultures. It has no symbolic identity except icons of commerce. Artists, ever mindful of ethics and morality, distrust the value-free nature of free-market economies. If they portray it in art, a cynical or at least ironical stance seems to be the only valid choice. But all past periods of great art have been in harmony with the most idealized values of particular cultures, whether national or international. No great art of the past is consistently cynical and ironic. What idealized values are in harmony with globalization, the flat earth, the anonymous identity? I don't know. Not at all. I can't yet imagine a celebratory and yet profound art for globalization. So far, what we've experienced are not the blessings of global commerce but the evils of vast pooling of capital among the few (who are above national limits and therefore anarchist) and a masked return to global exploitation by undemocratic empires. Globalization looks like subjugation. Artists are resisting by looking to their own artistic heritages, looking for new symbols of individual freedom and morality. But the great new artists may be those who will symbolize a better, enlightened humanity in harmony with globalization and the end of national/cultural identities. WC --- Chris Miller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > And then we can ask -"What is Australian about > Australian painting?" > > (and weren't Australian artists just as much "born > into a continent without > museums and art schools"?) > > Here's a blog dedicated to that subject: > > > > http://jrmedia.blogspot.com/ > > > Do those things feel especially Australian? > > Kind of - maybe - at least in retrospect? > > There's usually a gallery of Australian art-glass at > the annual decorative > arts exhibit in Chicago -- and it always feels > Australian to me -- but I can't > say why. > > One thing I've been noticing lately -- is how the > recent figure sculpture of > each European country -- even the small ones like > Belgium and Switzerland and > Georgia-- feels different from all the others. > > > ____________________________________________________________ > Click now and pick up a gourmet gift basket for any > occasion! > http://thirdpartyoffers.netzero.net/TGL2231/fc/Ioyw6ijmoz09I5Mt11eIePNsAfcLi8 > MCVeyUy4Ihfysq8H7SPuSTG0/
