forum If Paintings Were Illegal

Started January 26, 2019 by Tobi Rei

tune

Let's say you lived in a society where the higher-ups decided that all forms of visual art were illegal. How would it affect one's way of life?

Self-expression would be seriously limited, for one, making for a lot more depressed and anxious people. I feel like the whole world would deny any form of creativity at that point (music, as a quick example, or maybe writing) and people would still do it in secret.

It depends what you classify as visual art. The textbook definition of visual arts includes ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, design, crafts, photography, video, filmmaking, and architecture. It also incorporates industrial design, graphic design, fashion design, interior design and decorative art. With that definition in mind, all the occupations relating to those skills would not exist. There would be a very limited amount of entertainment without any tv shows, movies, youtube, comics/graphic novels, video games, etc, and without photography, film, and graphic design, social media would be completely different. Additionally, our houses and clothes would be devoid of any creativity or pattern/design, logos and brand designs would not exist, all of our cutlery and ornaments would have to be made with materials like plastic instead of porcelain or glass otherwise it may be classified as ceramics, and occupations like cartography, architecture and construction would suffer without blueprints or maps. The arts are an intrinsic part of our society to the point that making themillegal would have MASSIVE consequences in our everyday lives.

If all forms of visual art were illegal, would the higher-ups then restrict things like coloured pens and stationary so people couldn't be tempted? If that were the case I would imagine the world to be very monotone and restrictive with colour. Acts like graffiti would probably be considered an act of rebellion, and even small scribbles in a students notebook might result in harsh punishment. What about little kids who draw pictures with crayons? would they be punished harshly too? Or is it only a certain age or group of people who aren't allowed to do art? Also, is there a reason visual art is punished but not Performing arts including dance, music, opera, films, theater, drama, magic shows and stand up comedies? In this scenario would Applied Arts be included in the higher-up's definition of visual art?

It is a very interesting topic to think about!

Well this is very interesting to think about, for self-expression and art is part of a human’s nature. This would mean that the gov’t is trying to settle a cork into the human nature and to restrict many things. Teenagers wouldn’t be able to focus on school, because many of them (myself included) depend on doodling/painting to help them focus. And patients with terrible diseases wouldn’t be able to recover with art therapy (trust me, it’s a thing). So the world would be very dim and colorless (as mentioned, props to them), with no design. People might pick up pieces of graphite and draw all over tennis courts and walls. It would be a crime parallel with murder or harassment, so people might get sentenced to prison for it.
Relating back to schools, teachers wouldn’t be able to teach visually, leaving less teachers (because teachers have to learn too!) and more frusturated students. Grades would drop, focus would drop, and mental illness and stress levels would rise.

It's like 2112, but music is still a thing!