Title: Activist artists | 11 famous protest art examples | Ruth Millington
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Activist artists | 11 famous protest art examples
Why is protest art important?
1. Dada & anti-war protest art
2. Diego Rivera & mural protest art
3. American artists protest the Vietnam War
4. Jacob Lawrence protests racial inequality
5. Keith Haring & AIDS activism
“Art is nothing if you don’t reach every segment of the people” – Keith Haring.
6. Paula Rego & abortion rights
7. Guerilla Girls & feminism
8. Ai Wei Wei & political protest art
“I believe the core value of an artist must be to express yourself freely and fight for the freedom of others” – Ai Wei Wei.
9. Nan Goldin protests drug money
10. Void One attacks government cuts
“I didn’t set out to make political art but art is a platform where I can vent my frustrations” – Void One.
11. Kara Walker & anti-empire protest art
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Content: 1954. 2. Diego Rivera & mural protest art
Diego Rivera was one of the leaders of the Mexican Mural Movement of the 1920s. He created popular political murals throughout Mexico that included attacks on the ruling class, the church and capitalism. Instead, he promoted communism and socialism, and wanted to protect workers’ rights. Rivera deliberately painted large-scale murals on public walls (in opposition to what he regarded as the elitist character of paintings in galleries and museums). He claims to have been arrested for his protest art but no evidence exists for this. Yayoi Kusama’s protest art took the form of naked body paintings
3. American artists protest the Vietnam War
In 1965, as the Vietnam War escalated, American artists began to move away from abstraction and into a more direct commentary on the world. The war brought about a sudden shift toward representational, satirical and often cartoonish protest art attacking the war and elected officials.