ABSTRACT
Robert Hughes, the art critic of Time magazine, once argued that fine art could not compete with the mass media on their own terms: Pop art was big and brash. Characteristically Hughes privileges the art of painting. He is probably right to say 'painting cannot win' if he means small oil paintings on canvas, but a large wall mural in the street could well stand more of a chance. Hughes's conception of art as a rival to the mass media can also be questioned. Does fine art really attempt to perform the same aesthetic and social functions? This text has identified numerous contemporary artists who are providing a critique of the mass media's ideological assumptions, politics and manipulative methods. Art's ability to reach and influence people may be much less than the mass media's, but the critical independence manifested by politically-conscious artists is of genuine educational and social value.
