Mark Swed says Obama is probably an arts president, so he should do better than the “hokey” quartet by Yo Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Gabriela Montero, and Anthony McGill.
If he really wants change, he will have to have the courage to listen to artists who can’t be controlled, whose vision is greater than his and his handlers. We need artists not merely to sing our achievements but to communicate new ideas and to spread our voice through the land and the world. Obama must mobilize the arts to help him change the mood of our nation and raise our energy.
“Artists who can’t be controlled”? Politicians don’t usually go for lack of control.
Artists can be controlled, just as everybody else. See, for example, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_realism .
Artists are not controlled in our society, which is free and rich enough to support artists. Artists who think this is the rule rather than the exception should learn more history.
Ahh, Soviet Realism.
A People’s Revolution to get people excited about painting new images of man as man, the path of history, and possible futures. Not all equally good, but interesting subjects at least.
Then they shot everyone who fell out of fashion. With the expected results.
Mark Swed’s article is an example of the type of pompous windbaggery that turns the masses off from appreciating the fine arts. Yo Yo Ma, in particular, is “controlled”, if anything, by his own strength of character and the relentless discipline that was necessary to bring him to his level of excellence. He plays what he wants, in any style he wants (he’s been doing some very diverse recording projects), as well as or better than any cellist in the world. He seems “uncontrolled” enough – uncontrolled by Swed’s idea of what his artistic agenda should be – and the same is true of the other musicians involved. I speak as an amateur cellist myself; artists and art critics can be a bit petty when finding fault with one another.
I agree, Michael.