In praise of modern art

In praise of modern art

I don’t know art, but I know what I like. That wry phrase applies to modern art as appropriately as it did when it was first coined. For traditionalists, modern art forms are often a bit off-putting. Performance art, mobile art, installations; the list of terms and the forms that modern artistic expression takes go on forever. Rather than being critical of the diversity (and often oddness) of modern art, we should celebrate it.

Since the first cave dwellers began extracting colors from plants, animals and minerals to make pictures on the walls to celebrate their hunting exploits, man has used art to express his inner feelings, desires and aspirations. Each era has spawned a new and often reviled form of artistic expression. Cubism and expressionist painting were at first rejected by those who were brought up on traditional realistic painting. Cartoons and posters were considered ‘minor’ art forms, as if somehow it didn’t take the same degree of talent to create them that went into an oil painting or water color landscape.

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Over time, the reviled art forms were seen for what they were; reflections of the times. Art continues to move along as society moves; sometimes far out in front of our understanding of that society. Viewed carefully, they can sometimes help us to understand the social and cultural changes that are going on around us. This explains, perhaps, why new art forms are at first rejected. They represent change, and they are often at first unknown and obscure. Our mundane minds resist change, and resent being made to exert the effort needed to see behind the new and different.

Modern art forms are a reflection of the pace and scale of change of the 21st century; an era that could very well be called the ‘kinetic age.’ We live in an age of transience, and the new art reflects that transience. Whether it’s performance art, or slam poetry, the art forms of today reflect and interpret the cultural changes that swirl around us, and in doing so, make those changes less threatening. Modern art is also a reflection of the diversity that is inevitably a part of our lives. As recently as the 1950s, it was possible to live in a community that was inhabited almost entirely by people just like you. In today’s world, in order to find such a community, one would have to penetrate deep into the Amazon or Philippine rain forests; and it is quite likely that you would find some sign of the outside world even there; whether it be cell phone or a greasy bag from one of the fast food outlets that can now be found in most countries.

You don’t have to know modern art in order to appreciate it; but if you take the time to look behind the curtain of the performance art, you just might be surprised at how it will affect you.