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Prager University On Modern Art
In Prager University’s latest video, artist Robert Florczak discusses the decline in standards of beauty and quality in the arts:
[S]omething happened on the way to the 20th Century: the profound, the inspiring, and the beautiful were replaced by the new, the different, and the ugly. Today the silly, pointless, and the purely offense are held up as the best of modern art…With each new generation [that followed the initial break], standards declined until there were no standards. All that was left was personal expression.
Anyone who’s been to a fine arts museum knows what Florczak is talking about, and he showcases some choice examples of absurd and ugly work that is — somehow — highly regarded. Though I think he overstates it — architecture did pretty well for itself in the 20th century and there is some great new stuff out there in the fine arts that makes it into museums (I think we’re past the height of the absurdities) — contemporary fine art seems to default toward the lamer forms of post-modernism. I’ll take the Norton Simon and the MFA over LACMA and the ICA any day.
I take issue, however, with his contention that the decline in the fine arts means we live in a world that’s forgotten how to appreciate beauty. Take a gander through the list of best cinematography and visual effects nominees over the past decade, and you’ll see some simply stunningly beautiful work. As Aaron Miller pointed out a few weeks back, video game designers are producing gorgeous images. Flickr — besides being a handy place to find creative commons-licensed work to illustrate Ricochet posts — is an incredible celebration of beauty in photography. If you look at what kind of artwork young people are actually adorning their living space with, it’s not Jackson Pollock. When it comes to art that the average person is actually consuming, things don’t look quite so dreary.
The fine arts world has a problem. But — given the better standards in the popular arts — perhaps there’s a case to be made for leading from behind.
Published in General
Boy does this open a can of worms.
When Van Gogh died he had over 70 canvases in his room and when Theo died six months later the accumulated Van Gogh canvases was over 200, seems no one wanted them. Van Gogh’s ‘Portrait of Doctor Gachetlast’ sold at auction for 82.4 million dollars, adjusted for today that’s around 146 million.
Rembrandt dies bankrupt and is buried in a rented grave. It is estimated that his painting ‘Portrait of Jan Six’, held in a private collection is valued at around 150 to 250 million dollars.
The term ‘Impressionism’ was used as a derogatory term to ‘explain’ Monet’s painting ‘Impression, Sunrise’.
‘Art’ is not always what it seems at the time.
If explored, as most ‘famous’ artists did, art is a self expression of some inner vision. Hopefully we have it in ourselves to try that hard in life.
I can’t see where vomit, piss or cut up cows accomplishes this, seems these are intended merely as narcissistic spectacle.
But we need to be a bit open concerning why Sterling Calder is a wonderful sculptor and Alexander Calder is also brilliant in his own way.
James, Rob, and Peter:
It is very clear that Ricochet needs a podcast with an intelligent member of the artworld. How about Roger Kimball, Adam Gopnik, Karen Wilkin, or, Roger Scruton?
Just a suggestion! There’s some right, and so much wrong, with the Prager University offering.
Or Peter Selz!