Do some people not like modern art because they do not understand it or because they feel inadequate because they do not understand it, or is it simply not as good as traditional Art?
I obviously stood up for the art world, giving it my backing and my belief, although I have to agree with him in some instances. There have been moments of anger and the words have slipped out..."thats not art" but that is the crux of the discussion, how can you define art? is that not what is beautiful about it, it is totally subjective. It can mean what ever you want it to mean. It could be completely awful to look at but it delivers a message or portrays a view, to be taken and considered.
Sometimes I can look at some form of modern art and not take anything from it, not even a slither of appreciation, just a glance and a "thats not really art".
Do I simply not like it? Am I missing its meaning or message? Or am I lacking the ability to appreciate it?
The idea that if you don't appreciate something, it's because you cannot appriciate it. If you don't take anything from it, you obviously do not understand it. Perhaps you cannot relate to it because you are too narrow minded or simply not enough
of a
n intellectual to relate to it in any way.
I was having a discussion about this with my brother, who I m
ight say is not even verging on the arty type; Where I took up art and graphics for A-Level, he took up physics and economics, my worst nightmare as ph
otography is probably his! He is somewhat of a hater of surreal and expressive modern art, believing that anyone could put th
at shark in a tank or take that photo of Brighton beach. He does not see beyond the surface, what it is, it; as an inanimate object, he sees the thing and not the message.
The depth dehind any form of art from poetry to painting to songwriting depends on how far you want to take it how deep do you want to dig? I think you can pretty much relate anything expressive to your situation and create a link and understan
ding between it and you, isn't that why star signs are so successful?
In a sense I think the "art world" holds something of intimidation to all people. It is like a private club, exclusive to its members, and if you do not "get it" then you are left out. That is my reasoning behind the sometimes angry talk that suggests modern art is a joke, and hugely inferior to traditional forms of art. Does my brother in fact feel inferior that he is missing out on this entire piece of our modern day culture because he doesn't understand, or want to understand it?
Personally I have to connect with the piece in question. If it is strikingly beautiful, gut wrenchingly real or unbearably sad, you cannot defy it and
say "that is not art" because if it evokes emotion in one
person then it has fulfilled its purpose and delivered its message.
I really like your point on "I dont like it" in fact being a translation of "I am not able to like it". Art is indeed an expression of emotion, anything from an unmade bed to the mona lisa, it is an expression of the artist's perspective and opinion on the world. As some aesthetic philosophers have argued, art is not created for the purposes of enjoyment or in fact appreciation. It is an expression of emotion as much as kicking out angrily at a table is an expression of frustration. Art is a tool for those who have the ability to express emotion in this way. An audience gives themselves this character of an audience, by trying to appreciate it. However, art is not created for this so called audience's benefit, member's of an audience must be like the artist, have an ability to understand expression in this way. The artist would not balk at one (like your brother!) who expresses distaste at the work for being dull, simple or not talented. For the artist would say that he was not working to try and evoke feelings of pleasure in his critic, his critic can only pass real judgement when he understands the emotion from which the work was created. What came first, the art or the emotion?? I would agree with you that the answer is emotion.
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