Sorry I’ve been MIA folks – the election has put me in a tailspin. I’m afraid to get my hopes up – I’m afraid, period. I want so much to believe the polling trends that show Obama pulling ahead by wide margins, but this country has let me down over and over again these past eight years (and Gore was ahead by double digits at this point in the 2000 race). If McCain wins next Tuesday, I won’t be surprised, but I will be devastated.
But it’s at challenging times like these when our tools as artists and creative people can be most powerful, right? (It took me a couple weeks of wallowing/paralysis to find this hopeful perspective…)
Tell me how you’re channeling your thoughts and feelings about the election into your art, and/or send me examples you’ve seen of how others are doing this. For example, my friend Jaime told me about 30 Reasons, an email/Web campaign in which graphic artists design a poster a day for the 30 days leading up to the election, with each poster depicting a reason to vote for Obama. My favorite poster (so far) is pictured above; the artist is Frank Chimero of Springfield, Missouri. In his artist’s statement, Chimero writes:
“This election is about one thing: Fear versus Empowerment. Please choose wisely.”
Of course, art can also provide escape – and sometimes, amidst information overload, allowing the mind to dwell on something other than the news of the world is the key to sanity. Losing yourself in a gallery or theater for a few hours might allow you to emerge recharged and ready to give more to the world.
Have you been using art to escape this election, or to engage it head on?
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
A long time ago, I made a decision to spend a lot less mental energy on things I can’t affect. And outside of my one vote, which was decided long before any candidates were announced, I have almost zero impact on this election. Contrary to popular belief, most people decided who to vote for ages ago… me telling them who they should vote for has no real effect outside of entrenching them in their existing stances.
Trying to convince entrenched Republicans to vote Democrat is a bit like trying to convince gay men that they just haven’t met the right woman yet. The intentions are right, but you’re barking up the wrong tree.
By effectively blocking out most other news, the election has cleared me to spend more time playing guitar and thinking about other things I can control, like the transition between verse and chorus in that song I’m working on, or how much fiber to eat today. (Or other things I can’t control, like the fact that my yard has a dusting of snow already and it’s not yet Halloween…)
Whoa Nelly, I completely disagree Mr. Argentiero! While I may not be able to “control” anything beyond my one vote, I can certainly influence the election through volunteer efforts. Obama’s campaign has shown more than any before it the power of grassroots campaign efforts. Those efforts aren’t targeted at “entrenched Republicans,” they’re targeted at independents and disillusioned Republicans, and Democrats who don’t always make it to the polls, and people who don’t usually vote/participate in the political process.
In a related note.
I was fortunate enough to be a part of Washington Improv Theater’s “POTUS Among Us” show last month. It helped me engage creatively with the election-mania that had been gripping me for some time. There’s nothing (for me) like watching this or that politician or media person do something ridiculous on TV Saturday afternoon then satirize that in front of a sold-out crowd on Saturday night. It was a blast, and before reading this post, I hadn’t thought of in terms of using art to engage the election…but that’s exactly what we did.
Is that engaging the election, or commenting on it? Or is there a difference?
SNL is engaging the election directly, but I wouldn’t call it art. Yet, I’d be more willing to call the Improv stuff art, but less likely to classify it as engaging the election.
And thus we land at one of Amanda’s key themes, the semantic definition of art and creativity. :)
oh boy, that link to RCP looks tasty. so many graphs and numbers. yum. hmm … do i really have to work today?
as for art/elections: haven’t done much. just a kids’ interactive election to hopefully encourage the next generation of voters to become excited and engaged. and it was really great to watch kids weigh options and see how excited they were that their opinions counted, even in a fictional election.