Much ink has been spilt on the relationship between contemporary art and progressive politics. Art, we are told, is the engine of change. In art schools, the ideological descendants of art’s 1968 activist moment teach future artists that art must be activism. The people who decide what hangs in our museums and galleries poll more liberal than any other occupational group. In the art press, good art is left-wing art, and left-wing art is good art. If we believe art’s PR, today’s creative practices are radical champions of the political underdog that would build the world from scratch.
Where, then, is right-wing art? The very question rings false because in contemporary art’s critical vocabulary “right-wing” immediately conjures “far-right”, and that is as good as “fascist”. How about “conservative art” then? That too is confusing because art that finds success in the market is often labelled conservative as a euphemism for “sell-out”. Is there a way to make art against the art world’s progressivist agenda without falling into its semantic trap?
Read Full Article »