One historical interpretation of the development of modern visual culture runs “(m)odern abstraction by the late 1950s not only dominated the whole international field of art but had come to symbolize the freedom of the western world. (Art & Visual Culture 1850-2010, Steve Edwards and Paul Wood, p. 208, Tate Publishing, 2012 The Open University)
One formative force feeding into this interpretation was the activity of the CIA, which funded various abstract art exhibitions in the 1950s through the 1970s as part of its covert cultural propaganda program. The program promoted American values and ideals in the face of the perceived threat of communism—and in the aftermath of Fascism and Nazism.
The CIA funded exhibitions of abstract art in both the United States and Europe, featuring works by prominent abstract artists such as Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, and Willem de Kooning. Exhibitions were often organized by the CIA’s propaganda arm, the Congress for Cultural Freedom, and were explicitly designed to showcase the creativity and freedom of expression that were seen as hallmarks of American culture. The exhibitions were also used to promote the idea that abstract art was a form of artistic expression that was only possible in a free society, in contrast to the tightly proscribed representational work tied to scripted political themes within totalitarian regimes.
“(f)ree, unfettered art” is a digital painting which highlights the irony of the CIA funding through the depiction of various pin-stripe bankers and spy-like guys dancing on a Pollack-like painting.
