"Mind is shapely; Art is shapely"

Aesthetic or Obscene?

While this blog has thus far been mostly about Andy Warhol and his world, I felt the need after Tuesday's conversation about Aestheticism to dig a little deeper into this idea and discuss High Art versus Obscenity.

The first thing that came to my mind was another famous man in Warhol's time, Allen Gisberg, and in particular the "Howl" Obscenity Trial of 1957.

Allen Ginsberg was part of what was known as the "Beat Generation".  As a homosexual, Jewish, man who was against the War in Vietnam, the capitalistic nature of American greed, "Howl" was an anthem of sorts for all the disenfranchised of America.
The poem, which is rather long, flat out shocked people. Upon it's publishing, the Editor of the publishing company City Lights Press, was arrested and charged with printing obscene material.
I suppose this is where the arguement over aestheticism and obscenity comes into play.


      " I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by
              madness, starving hysterical naked,
       dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn
              looking for an angry fix,
       angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly
              connection to the starry dynamo in the machin-
              ery of night.. "

That was an extremely tiny exerpt from the first part of "Howl". The entire poem can be read here.

No one can dispute that the poem does not contain profanity, sexuality, or anti-american/government undertones. However, in this great free country of America, we have a little thing called "Freedom of Speech".
The idea that a piece of literature can even be put on trial, let alone persecuted for it's content, is ridiculous and outright illegal.
Looking even further past the legal issues of it all, when do we acknowledge the artistic value of a piece of work and when do we consider it utter crap?
Maybe I have a biased opinion, because I have anti-governmental/anti-capitalistic beliefs as well, but to me the artistic and political value of Allen Ginsberg's work is incredibly valuable.

As I had mentioned earlier, "Howl" became an anthem for all the under appreciated, disenfranchised, and ostrasized of America. It contained a strong message that challenged the way that America was functioning. Ginsberg discussed a lot of the corruption that was going on that most people kept silent about. Following along the lines of Aestheticism, "Howl" was not meant to be understood by the masses. It was written for that specific group, who would read it and understand and not judge it for its abbrasive wording. It has stood the test of time, and over 50 years later it is still being discussed as an intergral part of American literature. Obviously it did not fit in with Popular Taste, but I feel to those that have an open mind and who can see the bigger picture, "Howl" is a truly aesthetic work of art.