{"id":3532,"date":"2017-02-21T10:59:54","date_gmt":"2017-02-21T15:59:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reviewing\/?page_id=3532"},"modified":"2017-02-21T10:59:54","modified_gmt":"2017-02-21T15:59:54","slug":"wynwood-art-sends-political-message","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reviewing\/?page_id=3532","title":{"rendered":"Wynwood art sends political message"},"content":{"rendered":"

Posted February 21, 2017<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

By ZACHARY DEVITA<\/p>\n

At the intersection of NW 23rd<\/sup> Street and NW Fifth Avenue in Wynwood, resides a large mural of a Gorilla grasping the Statue of Liberty by the neck, with words above reading, \u201cCome on, what do you have to lose?\u201d<\/p>\n

The mural (titled after the words above it Come on, what do you have to lose?) was created by the New York-based artist group The Buschwick Collective. The collective creates art and street graffiti, using multiple artists from around the world. Its mural in Wynwood has seen rampant changes since the election of President Donald J. Trump.<\/p>\n

The gorilla replaced an image of Trump with Batman\u2019s arch-rival The Joker\u2019s makeup on his face and him holding a knife jetting into Lady Liberty\u2019s neck. What was once a piece of art that stood as a perfect example of a silent yet powerful protest to the turbulent administration in power, has become just another wall in the famous art district.<\/p>\n

Buschwick used its First Amendment right to speak on how it feels Trump is, and was going to, affect the United States. However, for them to change and alter its \u201cprotest\u201d shows a deeper insecurity with how politics and art should mix, in stark contrast to political art\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

Political art\u2019s existence has coincided with the existence and expansion of the arts. Everything from posters, to picket signs demonstrates the ability and effect political art has on the world, whether it be negative (i.e., Nazi propaganda in the early 1930s) or positive (i.e., “The Kiss” on the Berlin Wall). The artists have the ability to capture societal messages and ideas in unique and distinct ways.<\/p>\n

In fact, political art is nothing new and one of its niches is political cartoons. James Gillray\u2019s \u201cThe Plumb-pudding in Danger,\u201d created in 1805, is one of the most famous political cartoons in history. It depicts former French Emperor Napoleon and former British Prime Minister William Pitt, carving up the world at a dinner table.<\/p>\n

Gillray was emphasizing and demonstrating the issue of the geopolitical power struggle between these two leaders. Thus, proving that art, even when humorous, can provide its audience with important issues and societal problems.<\/p>\n

Modern political art has transformed to go as far as making naked statues of the current U.S. President. Harold Golen, who owns the Harold Golen Gallery, hosted one of several famous naked Trump statues on the gallery\u2019s roof.<\/p>\n

The statue, which Harold said, \u201ccaptured many crowds while it was on display,\u201d was put in place by developer Moishe Mana who has spent more than $300 million on developing Wynwood and its properties the past couple of years. Mana had invited the art collection behind the statues, INDECLINE, to host the statue on the property due to his distaste of Trump, as seen on his personal Facebook page.<\/p>\n

However, shortly after being put it up in early September, the statue (labeled as Emperor has no Balls) was stolen. The stolen statue was eventually brought into the Miami Police station with its head chopped off and poorly reattached. The thief, Pedro Rodriguez, was not prosecuted, due to the lack of pursuit by the land-owner, Mana. Mana\u2019s lawyer explained that the work of art was put there to bring awareness of the arts and the politics surrounding it. In fact, having the statue stolen only increased interest for the $50,000 work of art.<\/p>\n

Golen is a strong believer in political art, that it allows us, \u201cto be aware of controversy and allows those who are complacent to these controversies to \u2018wake up\u2019 and help effect the cause.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whenever he sees a powerful piece he makes sure to pick it up and add it to the gallery. Currently, the gallery holds two large coins at its front, holding the faces of President Trump and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Golen believes that the next four years will include an increase in political art with the hopes that this version of a non-violent protests captures the attention of those who remain passive in our society.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is a cartoon character, ridiculous and capable of anything,\u201d Golen said when asked about Trump. Golen envisions Trump cracking down on political art that the president may find demeaning, similar to Trump\u2019s current witch hunt over the media.<\/p>\n

However, Milly Cardoso, the gallery director of the University of Miami Gallery in Wynwood, doesn\u2019t believe Trump will go that far.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo I don\u2019t believe he will go to that extreme,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

While UM\u2019s Wynwood gallery currently doesn\u2019t host any political art, it has in the past and is not opposed to having more in the future. However, some see arts role in politics weakening because of the current disorder the administration and the media are in.<\/p>\n

\u201cArt almost has taken a back seat, as if our role of raising awareness has been diminished,\u201d said Kyle Trowbridge, a senior lecturer for UM\u2019s art and art history department, as well an artist himself. Trowbridge believes that the media, and the 24-hour news cycle, has over-saturated the population with information.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople now want art to be a place of escape\u2026nothing to do with politics. Artists are burying their heads in their own work, using it to escape or hide out,\u201d Trowbridge stressed at the fact that political art carries important societal messages.<\/p>\n

He believes that this unprecedented political atmosphere has caused a recent retraction of these messages. The correlation of art and escapism is something that political art and political artists must factor into their future projects and the future of political art itself.<\/p>\n

While some believe that we will see an increase in political art over the next four years, others believe art may be headed in another direction. The influences of society, the government and this current administration may dictate whether art conforms to other medias as a diversion or continues its long history of providing a message and a way of protesting the injustices of the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Posted February 21, 2017 By ZACHARY DEVITA At the intersection of NW 23rd Street and NW Fifth Avenue in Wynwood, resides a large mural of a Gorilla grasping the Statue of Liberty by the neck, with words above reading, \u201cCome … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":19,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"sidebar-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3532","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reviewing\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reviewing\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reviewing\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reviewing\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reviewing\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3532"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reviewing\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3533,"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reviewing\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3532\/revisions\/3533"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reviewing\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reviewing\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}