thinking and therefore of growth and greatness in a people…conformity is derived from
the wholly venal business of catering to a popular market” (The Shape of Content, Ben
Shahn). This piece of writing speaks of how the general public is in love with works of
art, yet at the same time loathes the artists that created them, merely for being a little
different than the norm. If art was about “cookie-cutter” design, then according to the
reading, we should all be living in a place similar to Soviet Russia. Yes, it is extremely
important to lift up and honor the Working Man, but it is wrong to tear apart art
movements due to government, religion, sex, race, creed and so on. Art is something
which comes from the soul and nonconformity helps to rip these few individualists away
from the so-called commoners. Nonconformists explain reality in a way in which is
hardly ever described properly. Truthfully. Why over so many years in history were nonconformists persecuted? Did the
witch burning public run out of actual threats like invasion from a foreign country or the
economy, or health care? Still the artist (nonconformist) pushes forward and creates
despite the enterprise of trials and tribunals. A favored line was about a modern day
politician that tried to have a design on a boat sail made illegal, yet it turned out to be a
legal design created and copyrighted for the Los Angeles Yacht