For some contemporary artists maybe. Or because, you think that waves or movements ( as Nabis , surrealism, Impressionism and expressionism, etc .. ) are like rebellions ( Picasso made an masterpiece with Guernica per example ) , and against classical painters and establishment ( or because you like street--artist - " street " in the world means outside and anti-establishment ) ... I agree.
But what to think about artists painting geishas , animals. Childish and easy Disney declination, mockeries or critics : who f**king cares about Disney in 2016 ?! No youths at all ! Me ? Others ? Never .
Who is Pixar too ... Who painted about wars ?
Me ! Ahahah !
What to think about Napoleon admirers and academic or not painters as Delacroix per example ? And about Revolutions ? Russia? CoreA ? And propaganda paintings ?
Anyway it's true that Norway Stencilers are more engaged against " diseases " of this world.
To answer to another question : no I would like nor buy - no need to be a fascist or a nazi - any artwork from an artist who is a real c. Or t**t ! Never ! I but only If I like artist 's mind ..
Anyway who cares ?

Hmmm, a little digging but seems to celebrate God and Nationalism.

After the American Revolution, and especially after the War of 1812, nationalism provided another ground for appreciating nature. The basic argument ran something like this. America might not possess the cultural heritage of Europe--it lacked, for example, the Parthenon, Gothic Cathedrals, the Mona Lisa, and Shakespeare. But America did still have something that Europe no longer possessed--an abundance of majestic wilderness, where sublime encounters with the divine might still take place. Under the influence of Romanticism and nationalism, wilderness was something the young nation could point to with pride, something uniquely its own. This nationalistic pride in American wilderness first developed among a largely urban, educated cultural elite in the late eighteenth century, and during the nineteenth century it gradually diffused to the wider culture. Remnants of these ideas remain with us to this day.

It was within these cross-currents of Romanticism and nationalism that the Hudson River School burst onto the American cultural scene. In 1835 Thomas Cole, the founder of the Hudson River School whose photograph is featured on the left, wrote an "Essay on American Scenery" that nicely captures this sense that New World wilderness might serve as a source of nationalistic pride:


Hudson River School artists believed that nature in the form of the American landscape was an ineffable manifestation of God.

It was the first movement formed independently from Great Britain, and a new, large wealthy class made art promotion possible at this time.

After the Civil War, the aesthetic orientation of the United States shifted from Great Britain, the mother culture, to the Continent, especially France. (Brexit)

EVERYTHING IS ART NOTHING IS ART

BONGO THINK ABOUT BREAK FAST.

BONGO CAN VIEW CUP OF BUDGET COFFEE AS TRUIMPH OF MERCHANTILE CAPITAL SYSTEM WITH MINIMAL LOSERS

BONGO CAN VIEW CUP OF BUDGET COFFEE  AS EXAMPLE OF NEO COLONIAL EXOLOITATION LEGACY WITH MANY BAGGAGE

BONGO CAN THINK OF CUP OF BUDGET COFFEE AS REFRESHING WAKE UP DRINK TO ROUSE FROM SLUMBER AND ATTACK DAY OF JEREMY KYLE VIEWING

PERSPECTIVE BELIES FLAW IN OP APPROACH

You mean the one people tie to sticks and wave from trenches when surrendering or the monogrammed ones in toffs breast pocket ? or maybe the one's tied to working mens heads to protect them from the sun ? Signs and signifiers one and all. Hence the prefix "like it or not"...

This lol. The Political Handkerchief, A Study of Politics and Semiotics in Textiles

digitalcommons.unl.edu/tsaconf/722/

The women and children that made the monogrammed hankerchiefs were on 2p an hour, denied toilet breaks and forced to work in sweltering conditions for 18 hours day. Suicide and depression in the factory was rife. The owner used a series of complex trading instruments to hide his income in a offshore trust and paid zero taxes towards the infrastructure required to treat the ailments of those affected by working in such conditions. When this was pointed out to Lord Snootenbury, he looked down at the journalist and stated. "It's just something to blow my nose with".

Enough about hankerchiefs though..

it's interesting that the title of the thread starts "In your mind..." a semiotic trick that implies your opinion is again simply subjective and individualistic. Art & Politics are intricately linked, Art is inseperable from it's time and place in history, it is part and parcel of society, and needs to be considered from, not just a art historical or aesthetic perspective, but also anthropological, sociological, geographical, cultural perspective etc etc. You don't have to do this of course, but it's there. This view implies we're all in it together, collectively. And that art isn't just about "aesthetic beauty" , isolated in some Platonian vacuum to be pondered over by the wealthy and educated. This ideology is propogated by and for the neoliberal 1%. Street Art's global rise in this period isn't accidental. It's political.

I give up. Handkerchiefs are a political statement.

Its a really interesting discussion

I think so far this thread has show how many of us are only really here due to a pure and simple love of Art, while some see Art and maybe most other things in life as political expression. 

Thanks for joining in

So do you see the Art you display on your walls as a sort of display of your political beliefs to people who visit your house? So I mean is it not so much about Art that you enjoy as an image, but more of the message it expresses?

ha, nice try. I'd say it's shown quite the opposite. That most are here because Street Art is inherently and in many cases explicitly political.

Looking around at my walls none of it has a political message apart from the flower thrower which for me is a left wing statement.I do love political art and feel it is the perfect platform to get things out there, especially street art with no one dictating who or what goes up.
Dismaland was fantastic and actually made me a little angry and politicized me again, something i had almost pushed to one side. - So - Is Art & Politics Connected? Not always, but art and music will always be an outlet for the people to express their political views.Great thread this one have really enjoyed reading it. Keep Left people

Ha, yes I forgot about that particular piece of art. I notice art republic have just release some of those prints.

 

 




 

 The snot rag or handkerchief is not political.

      Thats like saying a piece of blank paper and a pen is political because someone might use it to write a manifesto.

The same goes for art.

 All art is not political. Despite the fact that anyone with an agenda can attach a political message to an artwork and try to persuade others that the art is political. Thats just manipulation of fact and an agenda.

  If an artist makes an image of an atomic bomb blast or skulls grenades AK47's etc etc that doesn't mean that the artist supports mass genocide or killing or the arms trade.

   Some artists do use politics and political situations to promote themselves and create art which is propaganda.

  Rothko being funded or supported by CIA money doesn't mean Rothkos art was political. It was just usefull in it was so bad that by pumping the value of Rothko's art, the Soviet Union was shown a message that the west is all about freedom of expression which is bought for high prices even though it's s**t.

www.independent.co.uk/news/world/modern-art-was-cia-weapon-1578808.html

www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-05-15/you-buy-rothko-how-cia-covertly-nurtured-modern-art-cold-war-weapon


www.openculture.com/2013/04/how_the_cia_turned_american_abstract_expressionism_into_cold_war_propaganda.html


Ai Wei Wei is another who some believe to be a political pawn and others believe to be an opportunist promoting himself on the back of left wing politics.

www.spectator.co.uk/2015/08/ai-weiwei-the-perfect-asian-artist-for-lazy-western-curators/
"A more withering assessment came from Francesco Bonami, one of the art world’s most well-respected and plainly spoken curators. ‘I hate Ai Weiwei,’ Bonami said in an interview. ‘I think he should be put in jail for his art, and not for his dissidence …I think he exploits his dissidence in favour of promoting his art.’"




www.spiegel.de/international/world/i-can-t-say-anything-ai-weiwei-s-release-raises-more-questions-than-answers-a-770002.html

 Merkel supports Wei Wei's clowning and his fight against opression even tho he travels freely around the world and makes a lot of money selling his art , expo at the Royal Academy etc and gets a lot of publicity for his so call campaigning. Plus of course Merkels pet project mass migration also found Ai Wei Wei promoting himself via the refugee and mass (economic asylum) migration situation.

 Yet at the same time

Yet at the same time Merkel supports the prosecution German comedian Jan Böhmermann  for a poem about Turkey's Erdogan.

"Merkel lets comedian face prosecution for Erdoğan poem

German chancellor under fire for agreeing to Turkish president’s request for prosecution of Jan Böhmermann."

  www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/15/angela-merkel-agrees-prosecution-comedian-erdogan-poem

   Merkel does not support the German peoples rights to freedom of expression but panders like some left wing fascist to a country's leader who is agaisnt freedom of journalism and who has been given billions from the EU.

  The reason that most street art has a green or socialist content is that this type of stuff is easy to sell. It appeals to peoples moral values and can be hijacked by political groups with an agenda.


  I'm sure that the street artists who painted in Dubai are not sell outs. They were just providing a service to a company that wanted some decoration on it's walls. They provided their skills.

   People like to buy at Top Shop in London even though it's been accused of employing slave labour and the owners alledged tax avoidance.
 www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/style/fashion/article69599.ece

 17 people in China assembling iphones comitted suicide due to working conditions yet the iphone is a favourite amongst many street artists and art collectors.

www.wired.com/2011/02/ff_joelinchina/


   As for if art and politics is connected. It can be connected by anyone with an agenda or anyone who wants to connect it to politics.

 Collecting art with a strong image or political propaganda art as from the former Soviet Union etc does not mean the collector has the same political outlook or sympathies. Propaganda art is art  that is advertising a visual message. Whether it's for a commie regime or an advertising campaign for a capitalist corporate company.

 I am against religion yet I do enjoy visiting old churches and cathedrals and admiring the quality of the workmanship and interpretation of religious propaganda paintings to illiterate masses in huge gold frames by great painters. ( if only they knew about dinosaurs back then )

 
   In reality all art is not political and neither are snot rags.

What a ridiculous question. Perhaps rephrase as is art and this site and autocrastic,dictatorship narcissism connected A) yes or B) yes

Really loving this thread and some of the posts would have qualified for dissertation..IMHO.

Resurfacing the original question. I would love to hear from people who's political leanings influence the art they buy? A really mild example. I bought a mau mau piece, "Get rich or try sharing" because I loved the message. But over time I have come to think it is a really average piece of art. In fact if you want  it....

Point being that in this case the message was bigger than the art.

Any other examples out there?