For all its good intentions, art that tries to minister to its audience by showcasing moral aspirants and paragons or the abject victims of political oppression produces smug, tiresome works that are failures both as art and as agitprop. Artists and critics—their laurel bearers—should take heed.

Right now, at what can feel like a time of moral and political emergency, we cling to sentimental bromides about the importance of art. We treat it as an escape, a balm, a vague set of values that exist beyond the ugliness and venality of the market and the state. Or we look to art for affirmation of our pieties and prejudices. It splits the... See more

Shakespeare, Velazquez, and Kubrick share the ability to look their audience—essentially their market—directly in the eye and show them something they would not otherwise see: themselves, as perceived through the eyes of someone whose deepest loyalty lies with the artwork. This position makes the artist neither an ally nor an enemy, but something... See more