Should I avoid political or controversial themes in my art?

Generally, I tell artists to stay away from religion, politics, and emergent social movements—whether that’s LGBTQ, BLM, Trump-related content, or any other polarizing topic. The reason is we live in a polarized world, and you’ll alienate a large portion of potential buyers. However, there’s one critical exception: if that topic is genuinely who you are and you live it every day of your life, then lean all the way into it. If you’ve been involved in politics your whole life, if it’s in your blood and you can’t help it, then make it central to your art and storytelling. The key is authenticity—if you kind of like a movement and think about doing some artwork around it, but you don’t live and breathe it, then it looks opportunistic and will fail. But if it’s genuinely your life story and passion, there’s a die-hard tribe that will love and support that work. Being milquetoast and never offending anyone is a hard way to go, because you don’t truly inspire anybody. Just make sure you’re not faking it—live it, then lead with it.

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Asked by a political artist · Answered by Patrick · Art Business Webinar · 2026-08-17