"And the raps that I'm rappin to my community shouldn't be filled with rage? They shouldn't be filled with same attrocities that they gave me? The media they don't talk about it, so in my raps I have to talk about it, and it seems foreign because there's no one else talking about it."
-Tupac Shakur
When talking about "good art", sometimes I think good artists are really overlooked. Often "good art" is associated with realism in work, pieces that have that Trompe l' oeil quality, that looks so damn real you can touch it. That's all fine and dandy when it comes to the technical aspects of art such as skill, but what is art if it has no substance. A still life will forever remain just a still life, observational work will just be observational work. Good art tells stories, it results in several interpretations that presents questions. Good artists start conversations and evoke emotions, they are revolutionists within their culture. Artists such as Mark Bradford, David Choe, and Emory Douglas, let the reality of their culture dictate their work which is as realistic as you can get.
EMORY DOUGLAS
Emory Douglas and The Black Panther Movement represents one of the strongest correlations of art and revolution. Most artistic movements throughout history stemmed from cultural and political issues. I admire Douglas because of his courage, the standard fears of persecution are not prevalent in his work. His prints were the icons of The Black Panther movement and everything they stood for.
When presenting political issues in art, the artist has to make conscience decisions as to how they want the audience to perceive their work. Emory Douglas didn't sugar coat or mildly present his political concerns, he captured the reality of police brutality in African American neighborhoods in the 60s and even foreshadowed the consequences if the police continued.
