Modern Art

I need to begin by saying that I do not like the banana. Let’s get that out of the way. I know the rest of this is going to have the bejeezus downvoted out of it, but here we go.

In general, I will use “modern art” as an umbrella term for work made from the early 1900s to today. This includes many, many movements like Dada, Cubism, Conceptual, Performance, Postmodern, Neo Pop, and more.

Over the past few days, there has been a movement of Redditors that cannot stop talking about the bullshit that is modern art. There are a whole lot of very angry opinions, most of which saying that “all modern art is a money-laundering scheme” or “I’m going to nail an orange to a wall, give me my art degree”.

Let’s take a very broad look at art (especially the European Renaissance, which most of Reddit equates to “real” art). Did you know that the work we associate with “real” art (the Renaissance and Baroque) was, for the most part, propaganda paid for by the Catholic church and wealthy patrons to drive the masses toward religion? Since then, art has changed a whole lot. I mean, how can Starry Night be art, right? It looks nothing like a real landscape and that van Gogh guy clearly did not know how to paint, because the brushstrokes are so broken. What a classless hack, right?

We might not like the evolution of art, where artists build off of the concept of a previous movement and try to break the rules of those set before them. The artists want to ask different questions that haven’t been brought up before.

The public audience and art critics despised Impressionism when it first showed up in galleries. Impressionism was actually meant to be an insult to the artists when a critic said that the artists were so unskilled, they could only get the impression of a scene. Now, Impressionism is one of the most beloved of all movements.

For the most part (again, broad strokes here) cave art dates back to around 30,000 years ago. Since then, art develops and changes as quickly as society changes. It might have been a slow start, but with industrialization and how connected we are, more movements take shape with vastly different characteristics.

On Reddit, the memes change daily. We are constantly changing formats, reusing imagery and making callbacks to previous memes that the community understands. Memes evolve so quickly before they die out and we’re bored with them. In 1996, a computer-generated dancing baby was a hilarious meme. Think of it as the Renaissance of memes. What would Reddit be like if we only used a dancing 3D baby, because it was a “real meme”. How can we expect art to stay the exact same for 30,000 years when Spongebob has to be remixed every day so it stays relevant? No more Baby Yoda memes, because there was already a classic 3D baby meme.

Quickly moving on, I would like to direct your attention to a pile of candy on the ground. How many of you would say that this is a piece of art? Most of you would say no, it is not. It’s just candy. A garbage-bullshit money laundering hack made it, most likely.

This pile of candy weighs a total of 175 pounds, which is replenished regularly by the museum to that precise weight. This is vitally important to the concept of the work. As the viewer, you are encouraged to take a piece of candy from the pile. Touching a piece in a museum is a huge no-no, but in this particular instance, it’s necessary for the piece of art and its entire concept.

The artist behind this piece is Felix Gonzales-Torres, a modern artist. He was a gay man that lived during the AIDS crisis, something that isn’t a blip on the radar of people who (for the most part) were just babies or weren’t born when it was taking place. Talking about AIDs or even the thought of being gay was such an insane taboo in 1991, we forget how much the world has changed.

The pile of candy represents Felix’s partner, Ross, at an ideal weight of 175 pounds before contracting AIDs. As an audience member, you grab a piece of candy to consume, acting as the virus slowly eating away at Ross’s body until he is destroyed. The process starts all over when the pile is replenished in an endless example of what AIDs was doing to the community. Even though it’s simple candy, it was a chance to let Ross live on after death. The concept of it is far more powerful in this form, rather than just a painting of some skin-and-bones guy you don’t even know.

Is it still a stupid pile of candy in a corner?

The museum purchased the idea of this piece. The candy isn’t made of solid gold and did not take a craftsperson to make it. The museum owns the idea of what Felix Gonzales-Torres wanted to express. Has this method been used in various ways that aren’t as touching? Yes.

Does the fact that some guy taped a banana to the wall mean conceptual art has no value? Most Redditors seem to think so.

I feel like this disgust with art is like comparing all video games ever created to mobile games, specifically one game that makes me angry (like comparing all art a banana taped to a wall). I have never played Candy Crush, but I’ve seen screenshots. Every single video game ever created is a piece of shit because Candy Crush is stupid. There is absolutely no heart to the video game industry. All video games are void of depth and a parasite on humanity because Candy Crush represents all gaming.

Or Fortnight. Can you imagine if all modern games were grouped into the sole example of Fortnight?

Is this an insane statement? Yes. Are there games rich in depth, absolutely beautiful, and ask questions about the human experience? Yes. But Candy Crush and Fortnight are bad, so all video games (especially contemporary video games) are complete bullshit.

It's true that some art collectors screw with the market by doing publicity stunts like the banana. Some game developers mess up and screw over their clients, but that doesn't spoil the entire industry.

But you know what the success of the banana is? That little piece of satire is getting the world to talk about art. It might be a negative (and downright vicious) conversation, but it’s a conversation that is happening. Do I agree with the ridiculous price tag for the banana on the wall? No. Is modern art all bad? No. Is art just Renaissance paintings and landscapes? No.

I know that there are a lot of added nuances to this entire statement that can be countered or supported with other facts, but I’m just trying to spread a little more information to those that might not know.

In some final thoughts, it’s kind of sad how cruel people are to the discipline of art. Especially people commenting on those “idiots” who choose to go to art school. Just because one guy ate a banana off the wall does not mean that art education is pointless and everyone is a crooked money launderer. If you truly think art, art education, and art history are pointless, you should probably stop consuming most media. Goodbye video games, Netflix, and any of the pretty pictures and illustrations that get shared on Reddit every day. Most people who go to art school want to make the world a beautiful, entertaining place. Can you imagine if the Marvel artists never went to art school? What would become of all the Avengers memes?

This was a lot to read, especially for Reddit. Most will probably skip the entire thing and still disagree with me, which is completely fine. At least you felt something.

As always, have a wonderful day, Redditors!

Submitted December 12, 2019 at 07:45PM by IssaMeMino https://ift.tt/2LKLI52