There is a trend in today’s art, you can see it in galleries, expositions and even museums, it’s this trend that art must be as lazy and incomprehensible as possible.
I know a lot of people defend this “art” but part of my point is that they would not defend it did not include a certain “status”, the smug attitude of the people that follow this form of art should be enough evidence, this people gloat on using confusing forms of expression and then pointing inferiority on those who don’t understand it. It’s that sense of superiority that attracts people to that form of art, having information or understanding that others don’t have and preaching it to them is one of the most common things people do, and such a form of art gives people the tools to do such a thing, hence its popularity with the crowds.
Now its popularity with the artists is different, not only does this smug superiority attract them, but there are other aspects that interest the artist, three that I’d like to focus on: convenience, simplicity and profit.
cont.
First of all, I’d like to talk about convenience, there are a lot of artists who wish to create art that expresses emotion or deep meaning, this form of art is very known for this, it has developed a fame for being all about such meanings, so artists know that if you get into such art they will be recognized for expressing such things, this seduction drags a lot of artists into it. A lot of this art also brings the convenience of simple labeling; its innate confusing state gives the artist the freedom to express whatever he wishes in a popular and easy way, which brings us to point two: simplicity.
Another point that attracts a lot of artists into it, it’s easy; this art expresses itself in blotches, stains and smears, shapeless forms, random traces and plain sights; simple to produce, the action of creating something with the least effort possible is very common and desired, it’s the basis of mass production, something art seems to have absorbed, this form of art allows the artist to work on great numbers, making a painting in hours or minutes when it used to take days, weeks even months when the standards of art where higher. But what is the good of creating this number of works? Why create so many? What use does this have? Market, which brings us to point three: profit.
Making a living out of art is not new or uncommon, in the old days artists worked to create paintings for the rich or the church, sometimes even working in workshops to create this; nowadays it’s not rare for artists to work on commissions or sell their art at galleries and expositions, this is not wrong at all. However, this new easy to produce and popular art gained market, and yet again it seduces artists but this time with riches. Creating this easy so called meaningful art yearns a great profit for little effort, selling fake emotions for monetary gain. I once met an artist who produced masses of this artwork, he blatantly presumed he created his paintings in minutes and sometimes several a day, I even overheard him say that he didn’t believe people would pay such sums for his work but he wouldn’t criticize what benefits him.
But still people will defend this form of art no matter what, defending it and claiming it as the modern art, and this modern art creates a standard that must be followed nowadays to become well known and recognized; a form of art that presumed on breaking codes and norms has created it’s new set that discredits old form of art as non creative, and even now artists that try to thrive on a different form from what is the fashion see very little distinction despite the fact that the actually take their creativity and effort to make a truly great creation. And yet some artists still try to communicate skill and dedication, I remember some time ago I went to an exposition at a museum, while most of the art there was of the one I have talked there was actually a few that were truly outstanding. I remember this one that was a painting of the blots of paint left at a pallet, but the angle the shadows and the way it was make gave it a unique impact, there was also a couple of figures made with tiny pieces of folded paper stuck to each other, the figures were basically shapeless, like wavy dishes, but the way they were made you could see the dedication it took; finally there was a small collection of simple paintings of a person alone in a non too detailed room, but the shadows, the way it was inked and drawn, it was truly moving. In the end it doesn’t matter if you don’t want to do traditional art, but be creative, don’t be drawn by modernity, do what feels right by your standards, but dedicate true effort to it, even if it is a subverted complexity, tike that of the trees and the world that surrounds us every day.
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