Modern Art?

I will never get art.
People pay a ton of cash for some pictures/carved wood/rocks.
Big whoop.

 

I like Modern works by artists such as Van Gogh, Manet, and Monet, but I absolutely dislike Art Deco and most contemporary art.

 

Never was a fan of modern art...well the type that's just paint splatter, or a canvas painted one color, or toilets hung on walls. When I go into art museums, the modern art section literally gives me a headache and I have to leave lol.

 

I'm a big fan of Dadaism and Surrealism. Aside from that I'm not very inclined towards modern art trends.

 

There's certain modern art I like a great deal, and other stuff that leaves me cold. I find that seeing it in person is better, somehow. I especially like sculpture, and installation pieces. I love this one artist, Roxy Paine, and his metallic trees:



That must take ages to weld, and design.

I also love the Japanese artist, Yoshitomo Nara, and his dog sculptures:

'Dogs from your childhood' (fiberglass)



And I love his paintings, as well...which, oddly, have sold beyond $1 million, which does seem odd. But he's worked hard, and for many years at his own certain style:



He does a lot of these 'dark side of childhood' paintings...

For me, a lot of what art does is to evoke an emotional response, so I tend to be open to many styles.

 

Down boy, you're giving Marcel Duchamp a hard-on and he's been dead for, like, fifty years.

All I'll say about a lot of modern art is that, while it isn't necessarily my favorite and likely won't find its way into my gallery of expensive forgeries originals, I can (to a point) respect the thinking behind it. Starting with the Dadaists, the idea simply became more paramount to the definition of art than the actual, physical manifestation, which was seen as kind of decadent and beside the point. Of course, I feel that this path has, in certain respects, "killed" art in ways similar to that of serialism with serious music. I think there's room in the world for both kinds of art, "traditional" and modern. It's when one or the other monopolizes the scene (as has been the case in certain quarters) that it becomes a problem.

Oh Doc, think the kid would part with her fridge works for a few cookies? Can't pass up a bargain for a future Pollock.

 

Then, there's some very detailed painters I like quite a bit, such as Mark Ryden. He has such a sense of being, well...creepy!





He's always managed to give me the shivers, and has a very unique style.

But perhaps he's considered more of an 'outsider' artist.

 

Actually, it's the older stuff I like less. The renaissance, baroque, and roccoco styles particularly bore me. I just find the subject matter dull, no matter how skillfully it's rendered - it's too realistic, too unimaginative. With the exception of Heironymous Bosch, I practically slept through that section of art history.

That doesn't mean I enjoy all modern art. I especially dislike the stuff that's just blocks of color on canvas. And don't even get me started on how much I hate this painting in particular, because it literally has my unbridled rage:



I'm particularly fond of surrealism, which is a relatively modern concept in art.

I think it's unfair that people write off modern and contemporary art as being lazy or unskilled based on the works of a few incredibly lazy pieces. Not all modern art is those goddamn squares, or paint splatters.

 

If you want to see an original piece, head over to my albums and look at the one I've posted.

 

People deride modern art with things like "I could do better" but the truth is, while some is obnoxiously easy to make, artists manage to do it in a way that's especially appealing. I personally really like the blocks of primary colors. It's only when you get into toilets and really stupid stuff that I will leave it alone.

That said though, I love renaissance art and medieval tapestries. The former because it's magnificent to look at, the latter purely for its aesthetic of taking the viewer back to that time.

 

Some of it is quite interesting and some of it is too weird for me. I guess, people think the weirder, the better. I've never been a huge fan of surrealism, for example. Don't get me wrong, I think Salvador Dali's work is mind-blowing and was ahead of his time. But since we're talking about the modern art, I tend to prefer more simple paintings, something I could see myself hanging on a wall at home.

 

I actually had to laugh the other other when I read about a cleaning woman who threw away a part of an art installation because she considered it to be trash. :lol:

 

That artist was asking for it, because it looked like a literal garbage can. Imagine that lol.

 

#1 First of all, I abhor it when people bash, ridicule and disrespect the works of modern artists, when the issue is not so much the artist's incompetence but the ignorance of the spectator. These same people, when confronted with their music taste, their favourite films, or their literary preferences — if they still have any in this day and age — bring up the subjective nature of art. How is it then, that when it comes to visual art, you are allowed to think: "Oh, I don't understand this. Ergo, it is shit." However, I can't blame the beholder either: as it is with literature, music and cinema, the general public has very few tools to distinguish the fresh from the rotten. A lot of modern art isn't meant to be understood. Often there are no specific meanings to works of art. Rather, the spectator is expected to form his or her own opinions and attach his or her own meanings to them.

#2 This may seem in direct contrast to my previous point, however, I must say it: many modern artists really aren't that great. :lol: There are several reasons for this.
There are numerous movements in art. Photography alone has several branches — photojournalism, landscape photography, portrait photography, fashion, and so on. If we move on to painting, not only are there countless media, but different ways of using each of them.
In our postmodern era, there are as many artists as there are movements. It is hard to stand out. Although there are lots of artists, the art "scene" itself is small, and a lot of becoming popular is knowing the right people. Some artists gain popularity for the wrong reasons.

tl;dr: 1) If you can't understand it, just try to enjoy it.
2) Not all artists are good. It's hard to stand out.

 

Check out DeviantArt - they have a lot of good stuff there.

 

for every good piece of art on deviantart, there are 10,000 sonic fan art drawings.

 

^ And another 10,000 shitty MS Paint doodles, crappy anime tracings, and random scribbles.