Hundreds of years ago, people could not dream of seeing paintings from across the globe or having access to digital museums and archives. We live in a time that allows us to be more conscious of the arts than ever before, but with this availability, appreciation is diminishing.
Consider a trend which has done immeasurable damage to modern and abstract art: Museum-goers standing by art pieces they claim to be able to create. This raises a question — well, did you create those pieces of art?
It doesn’t matter if you think you can pick up a paintbrush and mimic an artist’s piece. That artist had a non-replicable series of thoughts, materials, emotions and movements that went into their work. It’s narcissistic to claim that art is only dependent on technical skill, even if you could replicate them by the square millimeter. You didn’t have the original thought necessary to.
One popular artwork in this trend is “Blue Monochrome” by Yves Klein. Had they read the blurb next to the painting, these faux art-observers would’ve realized that they literally cannot paint that piece, despite it initially appearing as only a solid swath of blue. Klein invented that shade of blue with carefully picked mediums and turned it into conceptual art.
Consuming art has also become aestheticized. Instead of museums being for rumination and appreciation, they’ve turned into spots for photoshoots and trends. Being a lover of the arts is no longer an innate attribute, it’s a label to make yourself more interesting.
Seemingly simple designs are downplayed, but interacting with a piece full of intention and forethought is part of the art. In trying to escape or ridicule a lack of meaning, you have inadvertently added a new one.
Take “Comedian,” a banana held by a piece of duct tape, or “Take the Money and Run,” a blank canvas featured in the aforementioned museum trend. Both were largely mocked and debated online. Commenters said these art pieces shouldn’t be valued higher than more technically demanding pieces and that they don’t tell a story, even though they have profound, relevant messages — both in their creation and their reception.
A photo that sparks just one thought counts as art. Not everything needs a coded deeper meaning to be meaningful, but even when a piece has one, it’s often missed by audiences increasingly seeking instant gratification and spoon-fed content.
Well-funded, soulful animation, like the “Spider-Verse” franchise and “Arcane” has seen a mainstream resurgence recently. The creators of these projects were given time and freedom, something that can’t be said of many major animation studios.
