Modern art reminds us of Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairy Stories. There, it took a small boy to dispel the idea that the emperor was wearing fine clothes. Others were afraid to say that, because they would be classified as idiots or fools. The con artists told people those unfit for office or stupid would be unable to see the clothes.
It is visual art that gives order and clarity to our world. Through the ideas, forms, painting and architecture that they create, painters and sculptors express a great deal about the world and times. They presumably give various objects a place in our daily lives.
Paintings, sculpture, and buildings obviously are important fields in the visual arts. We believe that they give real pleasure to the population and perhaps some insight to our everyday life and may be thought-provoking. Nowadays, they may illustrate a cult more than art. One contemporary artist admitted that he was fixated on sexuality and social issues.
Yet, great art supposedly suggest that a person can interpret experiences in personal terms, giving them new meanings. However, they should de rational even if they uniquely are their own.
The current exhibition at the British Museum illustrates the absurdity of modern art. At the centre of the show there is a coffin in the shape of a ship. On top of that is a flint. Then there is a tapestry depicting pilgrimages en route in place of a map. According to the artist, “Maps are very male and more emotional than people think.” (What does that mean?)
Many of the other objects there, according to The Economist, are related to worship and magic and sex. There is a bison “which forensic testing was found with blood.” Also, there are “19th century coins that were re-engraved by anonymous craftsmen to change the sex of Queen Victoria.”
There are literally innumerable other examples of modern “art” on display in museums. They are bizarre, but the public is afraid to say that.
For instance, paint is sprayed on a canvas, cube art that are supposedly is important as well as many insane objects, which, it was argued, denote something. The rules of art appear to justify almost anything, but few are willing to say so. It seems the more eccentric, the more it is praised as noteworthy.
It is about time that we called a spade a spade. The great art in the past by well-known artist stands in sharp contrast to this almost degenerate art.
The public is exploited, but fear of being considered insane, like those in Fairy Tales precludes comments. Museums should stop paying fantastic sums for this fanciful art.
Classic art puts modern art to shame.