On the radio the other day, I caught the tail end of a musician being interviewed. His comments at the end, as I heard them, were that “All music is political.” This because we make music (art) in order to express the truth as we see it. Therefore it is political.
I understand his point but that’s quite a broad step—from truth to politics. I don’t generally think of politics as speaking about truth. Truth, to me, is inalterable, is totally itself, is not a concept, doesn’t need to be proven. Relative truth, what we know in order to understand, can change as circumstances change. But it is not an opinion.
Politics generally are directed towards a desired outcome. The outcome, as it is derived from the truth as the artist sees it, is, to me, not intended to influence people’s opinions, but to connect to feelings. For that reason, abstract art is so meaningful to me. It’s about truth as I see it and is not my opinion.
This reminds me so much of John Keat’s poem, Ode to a Grecian Urn with the final two lines
'Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.'
I can go for that.