Remembrance of 9-11, Leoma Lovegrove, On Display at the Southwest Florida International Airport
Do patriotic art and the protester have anything in common? Yes indeed. That doesn’t mean they are friends however. A patriot can be a protester, a protester can be a patriot, and they can both be woefully uninformed. An artist can be all of these just like anybody else. I just wanted to celebrate the fourth of July with you by presenting some patriotic art and some protest art because they are both interesting and both have their place…
Statue of Liberty by Peter Maxx
Patriotic Art…Be Informed
I feel lucky to live in America, in the Northwest part of America to be exact, but that doesn’t mean everything is hotdogs and apple pie. Every human is imperfect and when you have 300 million or so imperfect people in the same country, there’s bound to be some screw ups. Most patriotic art aspires to present an idealistic representation of an America that doesn’t exist for a lot of people. So what? I enjoy patriotic art for what it is. Nothing more, nothing less. Here are some examples I have ran across lately that I hope you might like…
“Tribute”, Martin Grelle, oil on canvas
“Are You Doing All You Can?” World War II era war poster
“Fredom of Speech” Norman Rockwell
Patriotic Art and The Protester
“Make Love Not War” 1960’s era poster. Artist Credit to Weisser 1961
Jimi Hendrix Woodstock Poster, Artist Unknown
The United States of America, (or The Un-United States of America)was formed in protest by protesters & patriots, was it not? So the idea that well over 200 years later we shouldn’t speak out and speak out loudly is unrealistic. That goes for artists as well. It’s easy not to take a stand on anything. Just float along, not making any waves. That’s the easier way to go. For the artist who can’t do that, you have your paint and brushes, your pen and paper. You have an outlet. Feel free to use it.
Wake Up America – War Is Hell. 1917, Protest Poster, Artist Unknown
“Circus of War” Kim Olivieri
There are two things that come to mind right away about protest art. 1) It’s amazing how quickly it can go out of style and be forgotten. Any change in the narrative or outcome and you can’t get obsolete out of your mouth fast enough. 2) This is not so much for artists but people in general: It is amazing how un-informed or miss-informed people are on the issues that are so important to everyday life. If a person is going to protest a particular issue, you would think they would know all sides of the issue backwards and forwards.
War Protest Poster, artist unknown
We are all entitled to our opinions. But we are not entitled to make up our own set of facts. The facts are the facts.
Happy Birthday America.
That’s a Patriot
Links to some of the Artists in this Article:
Leoma Lovegrove: LeomaLovegrove.com
Peter Max: PeterMax.com
Martin Grelle: SomersetFineArt.com
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