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Does art require idealism? (hexbear.net)

submitted 1 week ago by Salah@hexbear.net to c/art@hexbear.net

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I notice that many artists are very idealistic. Is art inherently idealistic or is this phenomenon just another symptom of the idealism that is inherent to liberalism? It should be noted that the art industry largely depends on capitalist donors which means that capitalists have a large say in what type of art becomes successful, which then influences new artists as well.

But I still wonder if thought provoking art needs some level of idealism. Would love to read the thoughts of people who have more knowledge on the topic than me.

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[–] Damarcusart@hexbear.net 6 points 1 week ago

Most people raised in a capitalist society are raised to be idealist, so it would follow that most artists under capital would be idealists. Additionally, idealism as a worldview is challenged by material conditions, and any famous and successful artist will not be struggling and in turn won't really need to challenge their idealistic worldview. There's also an argument to be had that the capitalist class will "uplift" artists with worldviews compatible with capital. A hardcore communist artist who won't budge on their principles isn't going to be the showrunner of a tv show that is funded by capital. So it is a self-selecting process for well known artists.

Meanwhile, plenty of us artists are anti-capitalist and use materialist thinking, but we run into the problem of needing to make art that sells rather than art that pushes a materialist worldview. I have to make the thing that pays my rent, not the thing that I want to make. So it isn't that artists are inherently idealistic, but that capital pushes for people to behave idealistically.