Reflection – Oils on Canvas 36 x 21" by Jennie
Art is withering in Iran and Iraq, according to articles in the LA Times. Sculpture is considered idolatrous and the painting of a nude is considered an insult. The art galleries, if any are left, are dusty and filled with cobwebs. Car bombings, kidnappings, gunfights and mortar blasts litter the landscape of life. Check points have been established to ensure obedience to strict dress codes.
When there is no expression of the human imagination, what remains is violence and hatred. If art dies, we are robbed of our humanity. If the individual expression of human creativity is suppressed, what is left?
Karen Macedonio: If Human Creativity Dies, What is Left? – Living Now on The Huffington Post:
This article examines several of the things I have said in the past. Art and creativity are seen as luxuries, in different school systems, in business and in our attitudes. I maintain that art is necessary as breathing, it’s own separate life-cycle of creation and inspiration. when we see something that inspires us, emotionally, physically, creatively, it is nourishing our minds and spurs us on to make something, do something, say something. for that moment we are entranced and our minds are opened to the possibilities inherent to creation. and when we are aware of the possibilities – anything can happen. when art, music and books are drained from a culture then the color or the flavor is lost from society – impacting our lives, and our children’s lives and building a grey wall that sees only what is – not what can be. and in a country racked by war, what is is a very dark place.
Pushing the creative envelope may seem like an imposition, a threat to the way things are. I don’t suggest that nudes should be on billboards across iraq, but perhaps brushing the dust out of the galleries and getting a reaction, even a bad one, is better than an indifference to the arts and the slow eradication of creativity. perhaps, instead of troops, we should send artists, writers and musicians and bring some color and creativity to a bleak country wracked by war.
Tags: art, censorship, controversy, creating art, iraq, nudes, philosophy, war
Jennie's Palette 
“perhaps, instead of troops, we should send artists, writers and musicians and bring some color and creativity to a bleak country wracked by war”
I like that. But also remember that Iraq was the most advanced Middle Eastern country before we (the U.S.) tore it to pieces in the name of WMD, Democracy and WOT (War on Terrorism). It had artists, musicians, creative thinking and it also had a brilliant schooling system that was better than anything we have in the U.S. But…
We sent troops and brought religion as a Divide and Conquer tool thus creating extremism. Now we have Kurds in the north, Sunnis in the Middle and Shia’s mostly in the south. Therefore nudity in art is now an insult. Not just from the religious perspective, but also from the fact that these people are trying to “survive” and return to the present after we bombed them into the stone age.
Proceed with Caution: just as we imposed ourselves militarily, we should not impose ourselves culturally and/or artistically. let’s revive rather than impose.
I think you are exactly right, imposing our cultures would certainly be a fast track to destroying a culture. if there was a way of unifying the cultures in iraq in some way – turning it away from war to art, then perhaps the extremists voices will be muted and creativity could flow again.