Art Through a Cultural Lens

Image: Street Art; Source: Banksy's Site

 The culture surrounding an artist, as well as the dominant culture of the time period in which a work of art was created, greatly influences the outcomes and themes within the art. I find that art is a reaction to culture, and that as culture shifts to different interests, art reacts to those interests. Those reactions can vary, and even within art differing interpretations or opinions on the cultural implements can create rivaling art forms. Counter culture forms within art as a reaction to other artists reactions to culture. It creates an all-encompassing circle of various reactions, forms, and interpretations of culture. In my snap, I focused on one story from the  BBC, which followed the artist Banksy's reaction to the Catholic Church's child abuse scandal. He produced a sculpture Cardinal Sin depicting a bust with a pixelated face. This work provides many views to be interpreted. For one, combining the historic art of sculpting busts with the computer-era technique of pixelation displays that after this scandal, the citizens of the modern-era will be more adverse and apprehensive towards historic institutions. No longer will they be exempted from investigation due to any sort of cultural protection. The title of the work, Cardinal Sin, further displays the artists anger towards the Church. A cardinal sin is the ultimate sin, the worst possible act to be committed. Within religion, a Cardinal is a religious leader, someone to look up to. Combining these terms in the title of this sculpture accuses the Cardinals of the church of committing a cardinal sin themselves.  These techniques are just a peek into the vast world of modern reactionary art. Much of modern art critiques long overlooked issues within our society, attempting to draw attention and an adaptive reaction from citizens. An overarching technique of modern art is pitting physical representations of the different sides of culture against each other within their works. With Banksy as an example, many artists will overlay an aspect of modern culture on an aspect of a disagreeable culture. It helps to form their argument in a visible and interpretable manner.