# Subversive Art By:: [[Ross Jackson]] 2022-09-01 Art is confrontational. Perhaps it is more accurate to say that one confronts art when it is experienced. If art is to be subversive, it must exist without sanction or commodification. Given that art is often displayed in authorized spaces (i.e., it is sanctioned) and its presentation is designed to generate revenue (i.e., it is commodified), it is difficult to imagine how any art that is popular, mainstream, and mass consumed could ever be subversive. Whereas this insight is important, it certainly isn’t new. In 1964, [[Herbert Marcuse]] explained, in [_One-Dimensional Man_](https://www.amazon.com/One-Dimensional-Man-Ideology-Advanced-Industrial/dp/0807014176?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER), “the absorbent [[power]] of society depletes the artistic dimension by assimilating its antagonistic contents. In the realm of culture, the new totalitarianism manifests itself precisely in a harmonizing pluralism, where the most contradictory works and truths peacefully coexist in indifference.” In other words, art has lost its subversive quality through its appropriation into the system. What might this look like in practice? Perhaps the most iconic example of commodified art that has lost its subversive quality is the ubiquitous [[Che Guevara]] T-shirt. One can wear the image of this Argentine Marxist revolutionary to convey one’s radical subversiveness for the low price of $19.99 (additional shipping costs may apply). What could be more revolutionary than shopping online to support corporations in an attempt to be anti-establishment? ![[Pasted image 20220831165303.png]] #### Related Items [[Art]] [[Subversive]] [[Capitalism]] [[Marxism]]