Modern art, or conceptual art, is nothing but a shame of what it could be. The “greatest works” of modern art pieces include: An empty room with lights switching on and off, a blue canvas with one white line down the middle, a large urinal, an unmade bed, and bags of trash. This isn't art in any sense.
All modern art has become is a pretentious, elitist activity used to show one’s “sophistication.” The idea of conceptual art is linking meaning to nonsensical displays, but if there is no meaning to such displays this is a mockery of art itself.
At one modern art museum, bags of trash were on display as conceptual art, but were thrown away by accident as they were mistaken as trash. Modern art has literally become impossible to distinct art from trash!
Even with this said, there is amazing modern art to be enjoyed as well as skilled modern artist. But, the art establishment has shifted to funding only those who create the conceptual art with no significance whatsoever. This is simply elitism at its finest; it’s all just an act.
If a painting with just swirly lines is appreciated by only a few top art insiders then they are not trying to find the deeper meaning to anything. This is a one hand washes the other approach to art. Art is suppose to be the inspiration and reflection of the good and bad society. A society that allows its objective standard of art to be so poor, must be poor itself. Allowing such art to exist shows that western society isn’t showing what makes it great; this is a crime for the art community at large.
Meanwhile the general public who says they just don’t see any meaning to the artist's work aren’t uneducated or unsophisticated there’s simply no meaning to interpret.
An opposing argument to this is, the invention of photography made it necessary for artists to be more imaginative than realist; this argument is quite disingenuous. Ron Mueck creates some of the most realistic works the realm of art has ever seen. Creating hyper realistic silicone-based sculptors of people Mueck loved by the public, but is still shunned by the art establishment.
How long will it be before people start claiming they have created invisible works of art? This cannot go on if art is to be valued in a society. It all comes down to this: we must keep objective standards of quality. Just because someone says it’s good doesn't make it so. One can believe the Sun revolves around the Earth, but it’s not true. Does anyone believe it’s quality if a musician plays their instruments out of tune, or sings out of sync? Or, is it good if a baseball player strikes out every at-bat? No, and the same thought applies to modern/conceptual art. This can’t be taken seriously if we’re to hold objective standards.
It took Michelangelo three years to create the David sculpture; can modern artists say the same?
