A rant on modern art
I’ve always liked art, as both of my parents have had affinities towards it. I especially like post impressionist, realism, and contemporary, as I think the art/ overall value of the paintings are of the highest category. However,I went to MoMA today, and the art was underwhelming to say the least.
Here’s what I dislike about art, especially modern/contemporary:
It’s radical for the sake of being radical. Modern art becomes a rat-race to see who can out-jerk the trend before them, while trying to appeal to the market makers who can make them the fortune they want. While art is about expression, it still functions as a job, therefore it still needs to satisfy the profit maximization aspect. There’s no cultural shifts to tie the art to, it merely becomes a redundancy.
Ambiguous meaning. I absolutely HATE when art needs to explain it’s meaning to have us peons understand it. If I can’t translate the value of the piece with minimal interpretation, then I’ll instantly lose interest. For example, take Monet’s lilies. If you see the title of the piece, you can then understand the intense amount of context and talent it took to accurately paint those landscapes. However, the moment I see an aluminum blob in the middle of the room with a paragraph of text trying to get me to see it through their view, I instantly get disgusted.
I understand that these points may lead me to seem like an uncultured simpleton, and you may be right. I can’t see art the way that you see it, and vice versa. I don’t know shit about art theory, so I can’t vibe with the “highest” level of critics. However, I believe that the highest level of value for a piece of art is one that many can see the value in, like Basquiat or Van Gogh. Both are completely different, yet brutally unique. A good product must be able to translate value within seconds to the potential value-holders, or else that product is a bust. If we let the mass market decide what a good product is, then how does it make sense that we let art critics in their ivory towers decide, in their closed groups, what is good or bad. Decide for yourself.
