Art for a mass audience ~ Literary Hunt

Art for a mass audience

The creation of mass-production techniques in the industry over the last century or so, as well as mass-communications media such as newspapers, films, and television, has in effect created a new category of an artist who is difficult to identify as either a folk artist (blog-6) or a fine artist (blog-7). Typical among these emerging talents are photographers, all manner among performers, dance party singers, graphic artists, and tv series authors. All these people have one thing in common: they work to satisfy the demands of a mass audience composed mainly of urban dwellers. As a way, the "folk" art of the cities is this mass-audience art, but there are major variations between mainstream art and real folk art.

In the 1860s, the use of Sir John Millais's painting Bubbles as a poster to advertise soap scandalized art critics.

Public art is more subtle, in the first place. Although the folk artist is usually content to work within a tradition, the commercial artist actively tries to give his work an up-to-the-minute feel and creativity. Perhaps he borrows from an abstract vocabulary created by the fine artist to attain this modernity. For example, the American bandleader Stan Kenton borrowed from the composer Stravinsky* several of his strange-sounding harmonies. Once-experimental methods such as those of the Impressionists* and various non-representational early 20th century painters* have become ubiquitous in fields such as textile and wallpaper design, advertisement painting, window display and furniture design for the theater and films.


Poster designs are often the work of specialist artist.


An automobile's looks may show the influence both of production

techniques and the work of sculptors like Brancusi or Gabo.

Second, the art of mass is highly mechanized. It's geared towards the mass manufacturing techniques. For example, the industrial designer is not a.craftsman in the way most folk artists are artisans; he is a professional man who has advanced technological knowledge. If critics criticize pop art on the basis that it's sleek and superficial, supporters point to its technological sophistication as one of the many virtues. For example, as much thought and preparation go into making a "rock" record as any operatic or symphonic recording does. So in a large dance band the trumpet so trombone players will have a strong technological command of their instruments as their fellows do in symphony orchestras.

Why are the mass arts facing such high professional standards? The solution lies in part in the fact that such disciplines have a dual purpose. First, as we saw, they represent men living in the city as folk art serves people in the region, and it's common for artists to want to do as best as possible. Perhaps more significant is the fact that in a highly competitive industry, all of the popular arts seek to sell something. The hit album would-be competes with a hundred other hit songs; broadcast networks compete with each other and with the theater and films; and so on.

This action shot from a newspaper sports page (top) shows the influence of fine arts in its exciting composition. Attention-getting typography and layout of popular magazines and newspapers (center) is the work of trained artists.

Another outcome of the intense market rivalry is that the mainstream arts seek to reach their audience quickly. Therefore a hit song's chorus usually lasts no more than 16 minutes, and often the main theme is just eight minutes long. The package on the supermarket shelf must shout down its neighbors. The cover of the article, the press photograph, the promotional billboard (which is mostly seen from a fast-moving car)-all of these are built in a second or two to get their message to us.


Some is sophisticated, but designers aim to make all of it as immediately

easy to grasp as cartoon art-like this example by England's Gerard Hoffnung.

The way commercial artists tend to have an instant influence has profound impacts on our ability to enjoy the fine arts. As we saw on blog-7, learning fine arts isn't easy. It is something to cultivate which takes both time and patience. If we want a poem or a symphony or a painting to be appreciated, we have to fight back a desire for immediate understanding. Fine art is not "instant."

Art for a mass audience

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