Stephen Miller, Fascist - pen, ink & acrylic on paper 12” x 16” 2017

Why?

Art is subjective, personal, the abstract and unreal made real. Art constantly defies our categories. It challenges what we think we understand about it, the world, and ourselves. To understand art, we have to be able to see within ourselves and each other, we have to be open to searching both within and without. It is of the human condition.

The human condition is the internal existence within each of us. It binds us together without physical interaction. Is it our inner emotions, our intuitions, the world within through which we exist.

The fascist exists in a state of internal conflict. Their speech and actions make them fascists, which puts them at odds with the human condition. They must actively try to kill that internal part of themselves that binds us together. In doing so they remove themselves from art, from the beauty of our internal connections. When they do this, they are unable to see art as anything but product: an object to claim. To validate false supremacy. They do not truly care what the art is or what it can do. They feel nothing in it. They only see the physical surface. They may be able to describe its historical context, comment on the mechanics of its construction, and of course speak of its financial value. They can use it - for propaganda, for status. They feel nothing of it.

This, of course, is just another way to describe the dehumanization fascists participate in.

People occasionally say they do not understand art. This is unfortunate. They think this because society has often publicized the harshest art critics who speak in vague terms and flowery language that fails to communicate both the artwork or the critic’s own feelings. Popular culture has fostered the idea that art is a mystery novel, a whodunnit, where understanding art is akin to interpreting the right symbols in order to guess the murderer before it is revealed. It is built on the premise that there is an answer, and if you haven’t figured it out, you are stupid. This is also a fascist’s definition of art.

Art is not an object to be physically understood or whose symbols are to be decoded, its properties categorized into historical or social ledgers. You do not need to understand art history to appreciate a piece of art. It is totally okay to not like most art, to not understand abstract painting or performance art.

Don’t be a fascist. To “understand” art, all you have to do is look. Allow yourself to be ignorant, to not know anything. Let yourself be curious. Let your thoughts and emotions and all that cannot be easily described take you somewhere surprising. Let it make you feel human.