Friday, April 8, 2016

Why is modern art so bad?

Why is modern art so bad?  Could it be that art is now almost exclusively the domain of personal expression?  Could it be that there are no aesthetic standards to define the difference between good and bad art?  Could it be that the subject matter has moved from the noble to the mundane -- even vulgar?  Could it be that we have no objective criteria with which to differentiate graffiti from art?


1 comment:

Janis Williams said...

Exactly. The 'machine' of the critics, galleries, media, etc. are really at major fault. I turned down graduate scholarships opportunities in NYC because I refused to be exposed to those attitudes. Just as our media leaves unreported the good news (the other half of the stories, etc.) there is an unreported side of Art. There are magazines such as Watercolor Artist that mainly showcase quality representational art. Most high-end Art magazines don't. However, even in the 'good' magazines, the influence of the machine is beginning to be felt. Much of the representational art supports the beauty in/of standards, but there is rarely inspiring and uplifting subject matter here.

Unfortunately our society feeds on the negative, shocking, and ugly in the news, and it's no surprise that translates into what is appreciated as Art. Popular Art (which usually cannot qualify as Art at all) is a massive fail. In Music and the Visual Arts, what the masses are fed is pretty much junk food. We all know the addictive qualities of junk food. Just as we can starve ourselves while consuming large amounts of food containing no nutrition, Popular Arts do not supply any nutrients. We are what we eat on every level.