Causecast

Written by Elise Wagner of Meaningful Media.

Artists have played a great role in this election. The vast majority of this work has been for Obama, as documented here. But it has also raised awareness about the voting process and helped to define the candidates’ public images. The most influential images have not been created by either presidential campaign but by a community of underground artists eager to use their skills to increase voter engagement and enrich political discussion. Millions of people have seen Shepard Fairey’s Obama “Hope” posters, but many more artists are creating politically-engaged work during this election cycle.

Poster art has for generations influenced the political process and this election has been no exception. San Francisco-based artist, Eddie, has plastered the Bay Area with posters featuring a red and black image of Obama’s face. Freelance graphic designer, Ray Noland, has created a series of posters aimed at urban youth. Ryan Lundquist has created images of McCain, Obama and Palin on wood.

Poster contests have helped generate voter engagement as well. The American Institute of Graphic Arts invited visual artists nationwide to submit non-partisan posters and videos to the AIGA Get out the Vote campaign. At the Democratic National Convention the Manifest Hope Gallery Contest, sponsored by Manifest Hope and MoveOn.org, displayed the best art pieces on Obama or themes of hope, progress, change, patriotism and unity. Design/ers for Obama is a community of artists and non-artists that support Obama. Artists can submit Obama posters and other members of the community can rate the pieces and download them as well.

Public art projects have also been influential in encouraging people to become involved in the voting process. Art the Vote is a nationwide contemporary art project that recently displayed seventy pieces of art based on voter engagement on billboards in Missouri. BrushFire is a national public arts initiative that showcases public art projects focused on critical social and political issues. BrushFire is sponsored by Provisions and aims to enrich public discussion about important issues in the months leading up to the election. Check out Reconstitution 2008 to hear a live audiovisual remix of the 2008 presidential debates.

Artists are also using more traditional art forms such as painting, sculpture and photography to express their opinions about the election. The Huffington Post’s “Off the Bus” and USC’s Center on Communication Leadership partnered this fall to sponsor Maximum Exposure, a citizen photojournalism project that encouraged people to submit photographs of their experiences at the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. Githinji Wa Mbire, a West Oakland artist of Kenyan descent, created 25 sculptures and five canvasses inspired by Barak Obama. His work uses Obama’s quotes, his image and the shape of the African continent to bring the United States and Africa together. John Beebe’s “Faces of 2008 Art Impossible” project documented through photography the variety of people who attended the DNC. Allen Spore has also been using photography to document the presidential debates and politics in America.

The mobilization of the artist community has also helped to raise funds. Art for Obama is an online photography auction that was held for one week at the beginning of October. Fifty prominent photographers from across the country donated their work to be auctioned with proceeds going to MoveOn.org and the NAACP Voter Fund, both organizations supporting Obama. BoMA’s “Art of Politics” was a one-evening exhibit in Columbus, Ohio for which fifty percent of all art sales were donated to “Campaign for Change”, Obama’s state level campaign.

Even the fine arts world of museums and traditional galleries got into the election spirit. The DePaul University of Art presented, “1968: Art and Politics in Chicago," an exhibit featuring 42 pieces of art created in response to the 1968 DNC. The Loyola University Museum of Art and the New York Society of Etchers are sponsoring the exhibit, “The Art of Democracy” until just after the election. The exhibit features prints dealing with democracy, social activism and political change. The Irvine Contemporary in Washington, DC is hosting the politically charged exhibition, Regime Change Starts at Home and The Corcoran Gallery of Art, also in Washington, D.C., gathered Avedon’s political portraits for the first time in the Portraits of Power exhibit. We are even seeing Andy Warhol’s influence during this election. The Currier Museum of Art in Manchester, New Hampshire is presenting the first exhibition of all of Warhol’s political prints.

The artist community has brought young people into the fold and truly helped shape the way Americans see their role in the political process. Their work has made the most important election in generations even more exciting and colorful.

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