Group Task - Analyse Quote

As a small group we chose a quote from one of the overarching themes to research and analyse together. Our chosen theme was society.

"In the studio the artist has no social responsibility. But when the artist displays his work the situation changes" - David Shrigley

What do you think is communicated? -

 The artist has no reason to create art for other people/ have a reason for the work that they create. There is always a chance that the viewer may think about the artwork differently than what the artist originally intended.

What are the key terms? -

'social responsibility' - when an artist's work can be seen by the public then the social responsibility of the work needs to be considered as it could be seen as offensive.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-morris/art-and-social-responsibi_b_10945354.html

I found this quote when I looked further into the social responsibility of an artist. Although, this could be argued that where some work may seem thoughtless and offensive towards some viewers, there are also artists that create work that might seem dark or hurtful but it has been made as a message to make people think or take action.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-morris/art-and-social-responsibi_b_10945354.html

Artists have been known to cause controversy in their work to make people think about issues. It could be argued that too many people see art as painting pretty flowers and portraits which is not a truthful portrayal of the world. Modern art provides more of a message and an idea compared to classical paintings.

I also looked at Jstor and read a segment of 'Howard Richard- The Social Responsibility of the Artist' book where he disagrees with the Huffington Post link by saying that artwork is created to try and make people see things that they wouldn't normally notice or are more ignorant towards. 

https://www.jstor.org/stable/2379120?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

He explains that an artist does consider the taste of the public but not completely. If it was to completely satisfy the viewers then the work would start to be of less interest to them. He also says how the artist may be trying to improve the taste of the viewer by making them see the world in a different perspective and think outside the box.

• 2 images that relate to the quote:

Charlie Hebdo

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/11/18/charlie-hebdos-new-cover-spotlights-paris-attacks-f-k-them-we-have-champagne/?utm_term=.83865a71d2ae

Translation: "They have weapons. Fuck them. We have champagne."

This piece of work is a prime example of the artist showing no responsibility. It can be seen as offensive and ignorant towards a lot of people. Charlie Hebdo created a number of magazine covers with a similar message to this one both before and after they were attacked by terrorists. The message is supposedly seen as how they cannot be defeated although many other viewers could view their magazine covers as racist because of how the terrorists are visually portrayed. The attacks originally began because they drew images of the prophet Muhammad which to prove that they had the right to do what the pleased.

This could be seen as 'freedom of speech' but it could also be argued that the artist's didn't consider the religion whatsoever which they should have been more aware of.

Robert Crumb - Rupert Bear

http://pers-www.wlv.ac.uk/~fa1871/rupage.html

This piece was created in 1970 using a Rupert Bear strip combined with a strip from 'Big Ass Comics'. During the time this piece of work was seen as obscene and offensive because of the use of a children's character. Robert Crumb went to court because of this particular piece due to its obscenity  and he could have been charged for it. 

The modern day viewer may see this as more of a wake up call towards rape culture as people are now a lot more aware of this. The fact that Robert Crumb used such a innocent character to penetrate a seemingly unconscious woman makes the viewer consider how serious of a crime rape. Rupert Bear may seem like the most innocent character but he has been portrayed in a different aspect through the use of this comic strip. It is simply a representation of what happens in real life.

Social responsibility has been considered before releasing this work to the public eye as Robert Crumb's intentions were to make people more aware of sexual assault and how it could be done by anyone. 

Is there a counterargument? -

It could be argued that the artist shouldn't have to consider the work that they make and should be able to create and release whatever work they please whether it causes controversy or not. Although, this could also be argued that the work could be seen as racist, sexists, homophobic etc which could have a more negative impact on the artist and their work.