Violence, Power, and Ideology

Abstract

This chapter introduces the concepts of blank art more thoroughly while addressing the two key themes of Violence and Power that are discussed throughout the book. The author introduces the importance of understanding how Violence functions in blank art as a form of commentary on political actions taken by the Reagan/Bush administration in the 1980s as well as by members of the powerful, capitalist elite in the United States at the same time. The author then discusses the idea of Power as a concept force in culture, in the economic, political, and philosophical sense. Encompassing both concepts in Marxist and Postmodern theoretical discourse, the author then situates them in the realm of media and art. Using blank works to identify the ways in which artists and the public can harness the influence of media for themselves, the author offers the beginnings of a powerful message for the ways in which popular art can be used as a tool for positive political control.