5 Ways You Can Approach Contemporary Art Without Getting Mad.

By Martin Derien

Hit up any modern museum -- especially one devoted to modern art -- and you'll probably hear some people wondering why certain modernist works are given such a premium standing, when it seems like something "your kid could paint." Sure, that's an easy thing to say, but why do people say it? Even if your kid might paint that, they didn't, and they certainly didn't put it in a museum.

Here are a few more reasons why that just won't do as art criticism.

#5: The Modernists Could Do Classic.

One of the most frequent charges is that the modern artist simply cannot muster the appropriate skill to actually create a classic painting, so they've gone off in another direction to mask their inability.

But that's just not the case -- most of the famous modern and contemporary painters were and are excellent painters in the traditional sense, too. They just don't bother to show that work because it doesn't say anything new or interesting, and would just be out there to 'prove a point' to skeptics.

#4: No One-Trick Ponies Here.

If you use the typical kid-could-paint-that argument, you're not really focusing on the fact that your kid might be able to produce a convincing Rothko imitation if he got really lucky, but then he'd move on to drawing a cat that was bigger than a house.

An artist like Barnett Newman didn't just paint a few stripes over and over again and call it a day -- he grew and developed and held the public's attention with an artist's mind. It's not all just straight draftsmanship.

#3: Sometimes We Forget That Art is Experience.

Look, if your kid can whip out a reasonable imitation of a Jasper Johns, I'd celebrate too. But is he then going to introduce it into a world that's trying to figure out the validity of the artist/art relationship? Is he going to say anything (through art or through his declarations) about modernism itself?

If you don't care about what it actually means to look at a painting, fine -- there are many other legitimate ways of pursuing great art that don't need to attack the structures itself, and there are thousands of classic paintings to nourish and keep you happy forever. Just don't expect everyone to want that same thing.

#2: The Market Makes The Prices.

Arguments about contemporary (or modern) art's actual value tend to come out when a museum or government uses public funding to buy a piece of art that isn't universally acknowledged as 'great' (almost all modern and contemporary art, basically).

If the price is particularly high, cultural critics tend to start complaining, and old arguments about the 'value of art' get dragged out and beaten about for a few weeks of controversy. But it's important to remember -- artists don't decide their price. Just because people decided to pay a lot of money for something doesn't mean the creator thinks it's worth anything near that amount.

#1: The Greatest Stuff Has Already Been Done.

Why should anyone bother competing with the Sistine Chapel? When you can throw paint splotches at a canvas until it finally starts making sense, shouldn't you be doing that, instead of trying to reach a level of renaissance craftsmanship that is best left to its era? - 30452

About the Author:

Sign Up for our Free Newsletter

Enter email address here