Writing academic papers is more about headache than the way of gaining new knowledge and better assimilation of the material. The secret of successfully written academic papers lies in proper instructions and useful examples. Very often, students lack both of them and get worse grades than they desire.
High school and college instructors, as well as GPALabs writers advice their students to analyze several papers prior to writing the first draft of their essay, report, case study or other paper type. It is recommended to pay attention to paper writing style, formatting, structure, and a manner of supporting the ideas and citing the sources. Ready samples can serve as a source of information as well. Here is an example of a short report in art. Welcome to use to improve your writing skills and a level of knowledge.
The Modern Mural as an Instrument of Political Protest
Art has always been a way of expression, showing the artists’ beliefs. When you are walking through the city, you may come across big pictures on the multi-story buildings, on their back walls. These paintings or pictures, along with graffiti, which is painting words on walls, belong to street art or urban art, it also can be called public art since it is in public places and exhibited to all passers-by. The large-scale painting on the wall of a building is called a mural. Street art is becoming popular nowadays. Mural art is a kind of street art that is visual art that has a number of purposes besides visual impression. Alternatively, can a modern mural be an instrument of political protest since any art is a way of expression? To answer this question, we need to know whether this kind of art is legal, what is there depicted that would urge an action, who already did this art to express disagreement with politics or any other protest.
To begin, mural artists create such gigantic pictures surely with the consent or knowledge of either the owner of the building or city authorities. Street art is so popular because it attracts a visual interest to the walls, which serve as big canvases in demonstrating artworks. The way how the image is spread (commodity used materials) on the wall distinguishes the effect it will have. Graffiti, for example, involves marking of the wall with marker pens or spray paint, usually words making modern graphics on the walls, whereas murals are painted with acrylic paint on the wall. Since graffiti involves scribbling of the walls, writing any kind of messages, even vulgar made by gangs, besides artistic expression, it is considered to be illegal, while murals are executed with official permission.
One thing is to see and admire walls, which are beautifully painted on different themes. The other thing is when you look and understand the meaning behind the picture. So murals can evoke certain emotions and have hidden messages. In this relation, mural art has a number of purposes, such as to educate, to glorify, to promote a healthy lifestyle, environmental protection, to advertise, to urge a boycott, to name a few. Artists can express their ideas publicly and openly so that the majority of people will become opinionated, e.g., they can make voters abstain from voting for a certain political candidate by drawing sharp satire deeds of delinquent politicians. Therefore, murals on their scale are influential enough to form a public opinion of the majority of people.
Besides visual value, murals can serve as a form of communication, even can show a protest against politics. The first who used paintings to show protest against politics were Mexican muralists. This movement emerged as early as in the 1920s following the Mexican Revolution. “Inspired by the idealism of the Revolution, artists created epic, politically charged public murals that stressed Mexico’s pre-colonial history and culture and that depicted peasants, workers, and people of mixed Indian-European heritage as the heroes who would forge its future. The murals were executed in techniques including fresco, encaustic, mosaic, and relief”. Also, murals depicted the struggle of the working class against oppression. Mexican muralism was allowed and supported by the Mexican Government. The reason was to educate people, to “present a powerful vision of its future”. However, people were free to express disagreement with politics.
To conclude, a mural is not only a form of visual art but also an influential mean on the public. It serves as a mean of communication between the artist and the public. It has a number of purposes besides aesthetics, such as educative, persuasive, glorifying, and political, and social. Being so influential, the modern mural can serve as an instrument of political protest.