When you think about artists who create masterpieces to fight social issues, you usually come across artists who break the boundary of what’s safe for them as an artist and what’s even legal to produce. One artist that comes to mind when considering this is, activist Dread Scott, who truly pushes the boundaries around him every day. He is no exception to this idea. Dread Scott’s artwork is known as being revolutionary. His art is meant to propel history forward and fight the social injustices surrounding us in modern time.
Dread Scott is a revolutionary artist located in the United States. His art became the main focus of controversy when he created an installation where he encouraged people to walk on the American flag. It was such a controversial piece and attracted so much wanted and unwanted attention, that it even caught the eye of U.S. president George W. Bush. The problem escalated so largely and quickly that the U.S. Senate wanted to pass a legislation to "protect the flag." This cause Scott and three other protesters to protest the legislation. They burned flags on the steps of the U.S. capitol to get their voices heard and ultimately won their war on how the American flag can be used. Scott's works have been put on display in museums across the country. He's an up and coming artist who's fighting for the right of people who can't fight themselves.
The methods that Scott executes to create his pieces are quite unique. Scott typically stays away from 2D pieces, usually opting for a performance or installation piece to convey his message. Some of his installation pieces include "Stop" and "What Is the Proper Way to Display a US Flag?" In his piece, What Is the Proper Way to Display a US Flag, Scott’s decision to create it as an installation piece and not a 2D piece allows him to propel his message behind the piece to a whole other level. It allows the viewer to interact with the work of art, which almost breaks this barrier between the viewer and the work, allowing the viewer to develop a better understanding of the pieces and a more personal connection with it. By using this method, Scott is able to efficiently have his audience become more involved with his message. I personally believe that because his messages are so revolutionary and moving that if he were to try to use a 2D medium to convey them they would almost entirely fall short of where the initial impact would need to be.
Artists frequently have an overall message that they address through each piece they create. For Scott, I believe it’s the battle fought against social injustice. Scott frequents pieces that involve items that are symbols of patriotism, police brutality, racial profiling, racism, and slavery. So one could even narrow down his message from social injustice to, more specifically, racism as a whole. Being an artist, Scott is able to produce works of art that can convey the unspoken truth. In today’s society, people seem to avoid the acknowledgment of modern racism, commonly claiming that it doesn’t exist. But if you were to view and assess one of Scott’s pieces you would be able to understand that racism is still very predominant in our society. So when Scott puts out a piece of art, he’s not just creating to create. Scott’s creation are well thought out and almost scream the truth about social injustice, or to be exact, racism.
Being an artist myself, I am constantly surrounded by other artists who are trying to find their muse for their pieces. When an artist is able to discover that one thing in the world that they are overly passionate about, it commonly becomes their muse for their art. With racism being Scott’s muse, you are able to see the passion and almost desperation behind each of his pieces. You can see the lack of care in regards to social authority behind each piece that he skillfully creates, which in turn produces a piece that speaks high values to the people. I personally believe that Scott is immensely effective in communicating his message. From years of watching other artists contemplate whether or not they should push the boundary of what’s safe to create and what’s not, usually the latter is a more successful piece in the end. That’s why Scott’s pieces are so effective. He throws out the consideration held towards his own safety and his own protection against authority to convey his message to the people.
If I were ever granted the opportunity to talk with Scott sometimes I don’t even know where I would begin. Being a highly involved activist myself, I hold high praises to the man who fights the day to day battle on social injustice. I would probably talk to him about how far he considers going against the law to achieve his goals and when he knows that he’s hit his limit and should back off. I want to discuss with him his thinking process in regards to how he even comes up with each of his pieces. Altogether, though, I would be greatly appreciative of just being given the opportunity to mutually discuss the fight on social injustice and how we, as the citizens of the United States, need to go about stopping it.
