Robert Mapplethorpe: Photography, Homoeroticism, and Senator Jesse Helms
No medium or arena is free from political assimilation. Perhaps this is why the term "the personal is political" is so reverberant in such a multitude of communities. In the fine arts community, every art piece reflects a personal decision or touch; what medium to best describe a subject or idea in, or the physical shape and making of art by an artist, for example, are ways in which each artist has ownership over his or her own work. When art is displayed for an audience, the very act of placing a personal piece into the public sphere creates a forum for interactive and political dialogue and judgment. To present artwork in a public arena authorizes the audience to construe interpretation and assess that art. The policies and politics that dictate the arrival of art for the public purview are not immune to the authority and judgment making that occurs once the art is on display. In order for galleries, museums, or universities to display artwork, their high level officials must approve the works. Furthermore, when the work is on display it reflects back on the institution it is in, the leaders of that institution who approve it, and ultimately the artist who made the work herself. There are foundations and organizations that are funded by the government for the promotion and distribution of fine arts, which of necessity are bound by the legal dictates of the governing bodies and the public it represents for these reasons. When artwork or an artist is controversial, it becomes a political issue due to governmental involvement in funding of --and thus universally approving-- the contentious art or art-maker. For artists who work in the photographic medium, controversies arise more readily due to the realism of the images. Homoerotic photographic art in particular is the site of political and social stigmatization, as exemplified by Robert Mapplethorpe's life and work. Mapplethorpe's photography was the catalyst from which conservative senator Jesse Helms was able to symbolize the misinterpretations of visual representation for "real" or authentic action and criticize his work as "obscene" due to its homoerotic content.
Robert Mapplethorpe (1946-1989) was a gay male artist who died at the age of 43 of AIDS. His technically brilliant and stylistically disreputable images sparked both controversy and contemplation. He was equally praised and derogated by his stark and honest appraisal of the erotic male nude, his depiction of sadomasochistic culture and practices, and his own and others' homoerotic and multiracial portraits.
The similar controversial natures of Fury’s Kissing Doesn’t Kill and Manuel Ramos Otero’s “Nobility of Blood” suggest that perhaps their intended audiences may have shared characteristics as well. Because Kissing Doesn’t Kill is a piece of poster art, it was displayed out in the public, instead of a museum or convention like usual pieces of art. The poster was plastered in large sizes to the sides of public transportation buses, billboards, and even mass mailings. People of all kinds of backgrounds came across the artwork, whether they wanted to or not. However, since the point of activist artwork like this is to create social change, the effect of this artwork on its viewers is the main focus. To people who agreed with the statements on the
Yellow fever is a horrible disease for those who begin to show symptoms, and while that number is low, of those who do become ill 50% die; only after having two rounds ...
There was a complaint in 1992 about having The Nude Maja in a classroom. The complaint came from a feminist English professor who stated that the painting made her students, as well as herself, uncomfortable. Another incident occurred at the University of Arizona when a female student’s photographic artwork consisting of self portraits in her underwear was physically attacked by feminists. There was also an occurrence at University of Michigan when some of their law school feminists organized a conference “Prostitution: From Academia to Activism”. This group removed a feminist-curated art exhibition held in conjunction with the conference. They felt that videos showing prostitutes at work was pornographic and unacceptable(Faigley & Selzer, 539).
An essay exploring how important image is to society and how it leads to silence.
O'Callahan, Molly. "Message of "Fahrenheit 451" still is relevant." (2009): n. pag. Web. Newspaper source. Ebsco host 10 Dec 2009.
Seed, David. “The Flight From the Good Life: Fahrenheit 451 in the Context of Postwar American Dystopias”. Journal of American Studies Vol. 28, No. 2 (1994): 227.
As viewers, we often don’t consider the three-dimensionality of objects when evaluating their authenticity. In terms of paintings, for instance, a public portrait is seen as more authentic from the painter’s point of view, while self-portraits are seen as authentic images of the subject and the painter. Considering one more authentic than the other seems ludicrous as they each illustrate divergent types of authenticity. However, as John Berger argues in Ways of Seeing, self-portraits are less stiff and rigid, and more personal, “They are there in all their particularity and we can study them, but it is impossible to imagine them considering us in a similar way” (98). One painting in particular, Autorretrato con Pelo Corto by Frida Kahlo, manages to capture what a public portrait of Kahlo would not; it, among many things, clues in her divorce, sexual identity and orientation, and health issues.
The environment includes everything around you. Good and bad things are a part of the environment. People and substance abuse is something that is a part of our environment. Therefore, people abuse substances such as drugs, alcohol, and tobacco for different and complex reasons, but it is clear that our society pays a significant cost. Drugs can be injected, snorted, smoked, or ate (Mental Health Center: Substance abuse, 2013). Abusing drugs and alcohol can lead to job loss, family feuds, homelessness, and even death. In big cities you are most likely to see a person who suffers from substance abuse and they are on the street for one of those three reason. Death is not far away if they keep up with this bad habit. This problem not only affects the individual but also the organization they are currently in. Drugs such as, cocaine, crack, marijuana, inhalants, club drugs, heroin, steroids are all examples of illegal drugs any individual could be using while in an organization that require all individuals to work in a drug free environment.
The role of social commentary in art and literature is an often controversial one. After the publication of Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses – a book which comments on the experience of Muslims in Britain – a fatwā calling for the author’s death was put out. While contemporary examples of commentators being beset by hardship are not uncommon, artists in the past were regularly censured for their views and artworks. Dostoyevsky, for example, was put into exile for years and nearly put to death for his views. Voltaire was banned from Paris by Louis XV. Both of these writers understood well the impact their artwork could have on society. As such, comparing their views on the role of art in humanity is beneficial.
Walter Reed discovered a preventative vaccine to prevent the occurrence of allowing oneself to get yellow fever, saving millions of people. During the Spanish American war in Havana, Cuba there was approximately one thousand six hundred deaths were from yellow fever within the three years of the war. As you have read, yellow fever took a huge toll on the world. Because of the vaccine (17D) founded by Walter Reed during 1937, the disease may still be persistent currently.
The detachment of an object from its sphere of tradition, Benjamin states, causes a lack of the “here and now” of the work of art. Meaning that the only the true piece of art contains the true history (changes in ownership and changes in physical structure of the work). In many instances, with the spread through reproduction, art is designed to show evidence of specific events and get a rise of opinion from the masses. “This constitutes their hidden political significance. They demand a specific kind of reception.” (Benjamin 27). The technologies of reproduction is directly related to the way people perceive. In fact, Benjamin states that fascist leaders attempt to organize and control the proletarian masses through the use of such technologies. This is a huge change in the value and significance of art works because now politics is heavily involved in aesthetic expression. It has an end result of the restoring of the cultic and aura values within politics (which eventually leads to war) while simultaneously fooling the proletarian masses with the supposed rights of
The development of interpersonal skills of the team members can be made possible through the management of emotional intelligences by the team members. Organizations, looking for a successful future, need to develop employees’ emotional intelligence skills to work effectively in the organization. (Bob Wall, 2008). Recent findings suggest that emotionally intelligent persons are better performers than their counterparts (Law, Song, & Wong, 2004; Van Rooy & Viswesvaran, 2004). Numerous authors have theorized that emotional intelligence contributes to people’s capacity to work effectively in teams and manage work stress (e.g. Caruso & Salovey, 2004; Goleman, 1998). Emotional intelligence may also contribute to work performance by enabling people to regulate their emotions so as to cope effectively with stress, perform well under pressure, and adjust to organizational
Wills uses a particular situation in which a photography exhibit by Robert Mapplethorpe which included some photos on the verge of kiddie pornography and sadomasochism was cancelled in order for the Corcoran Gallery to influence the government to continue its financial support. One is not expected to support that in which he/she disapproves and the choice to cancel the exhibit was the choice of the Corcoran Gallery. To naturally assume that the art will not be supported by the government shows how censor has repressed and placed limits on artistic expressions even though they may not be
Individuals should understand that the use or nonuse of social media has negative and positive effects on their lives whether they recognize them or not. Students who excessively use social networking applications can be negatively affected because they are spending too much time on these applications rather than paying attention in class, completing homework, studying, s...
In the 1970’s and 1980’s artist began to push at boundaries of representations in relation to race, sexuality and gender. Artists such as Mapplethorpen and Mendieta had an influence in the way people interpreted men and women sexuality (Sturken and Cartwright 2009: 129).