Definition Essay-Imprisoned Art

Imprisoned Art

Remember; crayons in the clutches of your stubby hands, paper scrunching underneath the pressure. Remember; hands stained with paint, a colorful mirage of splatters before you. Remember; an art degree tucked under your belt, metal biting into your hands as you’re locked in a confined space. Artists. Not many would think that the creators wielding the brush of creativity and innovation could be locked behind bars. That is because art has the potential of being criminally obscene. Over the past years, art has always been the column of expressing important events, dating back to at least 37,300 years. Throughout the years, art went through a series of stages—an evolution. From documenting events, propaganda, capturing reality—to

Similarly to the different phases of art, what people tend to find obscene fluctuates over time. And just like how the people’s voice change, art shows the underlying tension of it all. For example, impressionism was once seen as obscene in the context of its portrayals of ordinary people doing ordinary activities. So how can laws set as far as forty years ago have the same assessment? That’s where the black and white lines start to blur and we have then grey areas. Take for example an artist who captures an intriguing, graphic photos of acts and bestiality. According to the Supreme Court’s definition, it checks off two parts of the criteria. However, the last criteria is often more watered down because how does one tell whether any work as serious artistic value? How do you decide, and most importantly, how are the lawyers and judges to decide what is considered genuine art? Although there is already a felony or misdemeanor in place for engage in bestiality. But what if you change up the example a bit. What if instead of picturing bestuality, they were to paint a realistic portrait mirror the graphic images? Would you consider it art, obscenity, or maybe bit of both? Transgression is shown in both examples, however, the photorealistic paintings might only transgress our moral or cultural conventions, whereas the photos of actual animals also transgress the law. (Art and Obscenity) This demonstrates that there’s a social contribution to controversial art. It’s society that makes or breaks the artist. As cultures begin to change and new patterns of lifestyle arise, people have ways to assert themselves through symbols and art. In the same manner, controversial art reflects pattern of social change and the institutional make-up of community. The foundation is the social structure of cultural change. These cultural objects function as