PROMETHEAN ANTAGONIST

When you think traditional values, patriotism, and a successful society is "extreme."

# posted by Promethean Antagonist @ 5:09 PM 0 comments

I like some modern art. Abstraction is a valid expression of creative endevour. I’ve walked through many art exhibits and paused briefly to admire the creativity of some modern art works. I’m not one to say “I could have done that” when I couldn’t. That said, many of the artworks on display among modern art exhibits fail to get my attention. I walk by them the way I pass the sign for a restroom when I don’t have to go.

A lot of contemporary art is what I call a “footnote to DaDa.” “Dada” was the lable applied to Marcel Duchamp’s art concept made famous by his “artwork” where he simply turned a urinal upside-down and called it, “fountain.” Witty and imaginative to be sure but, not quite up to that standard of DaVinci. A lot of modern art rests upon a gimmick. I’ve been to some exhibits where most of the works had sloppy writing across the canvass, as if to say, “I can’t paint but here’s what I think about X, Y, and Z.” Usually the script was some whiny leftist screed about war, inequality, or racism (of course).

I realize that a lot of our perceptions regarding art are relative. Not everyone likes the same styles or periods of art but… somewhere in a creative work, I believe the soul should be nudged in the direction of enlightenment or contemplation. Bitching about perceived affronts to political values on a sloppily painted canvas does little, even for those who may agree with a given screed.

A product of creation is ultimately an expression of time and place commingled with an individual caught up in that intersection. When we judge the quality of a particular art work we are judging the quality of a different time and location. Everyone has degrees of affinity or dislike for the mood conjured by time and place but regardless of personal preferences, a hierarchy of quality can’t be avoided. Some may tell us that a plastic pink flamingo fashioned in Las Vegas in the 70’s is every bit on par with a work by Rembrandt but that is a reflection on lacking insight (or intelligence) more than the weight of relative taste.

Some artistic expression is clearly ahead of its time and exhibits technical proficiency and imagination beyond what can be grasped by current sensitivities. A bloody American flag or discarded tampons (actual “artworks) will never be “understood” to be somehow ahead of their time. They’re just pathetic. Save that nonsense for sociology class and Latin American Lit seminars — it’s not art.

Whether a urinal is upside-down in a museum or right side-up in a public restroom, it’s still just a urinal.

# posted by Promethean Antagonist @ 4:53 PM 0 comments

is real.

# posted by Promethean Antagonist @ 1:04 PM 0 comments

Covering for fraud again. (With their added favorite of censoring free speech).

# posted by Promethean Antagonist @ 12:09 PM 0 comments