Usually, during hard times or depressing events, lots of art gets made. The best art comes from sadness. A friend mentioned that they are not seeing art being made during this “resident” Trump period. With so many people affected by his every tweet, you would imagine a slew of counter-culture art. But, no.
I think I have a theory as to why we aren’t seeing artwork being churned out.
Fear.
I have written several pieces here that explain why the country is always going to be at odds, and fear has kept me from publishing these. My fear isn’t from the left or right, it is from the government itself. Other people feel this fear as well, and it stifles creativity.
Also, it is usually the younger generation that creates relevant art, and most people under 40 have been served up a Hilton/Kim/Reality show mind-numbing brain ray since they were born. They don’t create art when they consume it. You never see artists slobbering over other people’s artwork. You choose to be an artist or a critic. If young people had not been poisoned by the water supply since the 80s, they would see the craziness of having 70+ year old white men running the government and they would blog/vlog/tweet, etc. about it. Any woman who didn’t vote for a woman is part of the problem. If Hillary had won, you would have seen empowered women creating female-celebratory music just like the women’s movement of the 60s. Jealousy might be an issue. The reason Obama got voted in was because his base is better at standing up for the greater good of their whole community. They express that through music and art.
If people weren’t fearful, there would be a slew of art installations demanding justice.
Stop being an art consumer and become an artist. Make a statement.