Museums, part the 1

[yukon_jack]

And how you're always turning back, too late

Comments

[raielchan]

I like classical art because it is old and smells funny.

[occamsnailfile]

'Modern art' is such a broad category, it's hard to speak of it in general terms anyway. The much-derided and baffling sort seems a bit like looking at someone's private joke, I guess, as the cultural symbols they use may not be universally apparent to the viewers as many of the older works were, more or less. I am not speaking of Pollack here, as or a lot of other more famous artists of recent decades, but more along the lines of what one sees if one wanders into the modern section of a typical art gallery.

I guess it's that our artists got as specialized as our engineers, but nobody expects to be able to understand or appreciate an engineering diagram.

[yukon_jack]

I think that's a really good point. We hit a point where there isn't this monoculture everyone relates to so you end up trying to find something new to say about culture as you perceive it and a) a lot of people don't have that same perception so even if the way you say something is clear, they wouldn't get the reference and b) by trying to say something new you drift farther away from what people can immediately grasp. Everything's a niche and that's great because it makes it easier to find stuff you personally enjoy, but it diminishes your chance of resonating with everyone.

Of course, I'm kind of an art moron, a lot of the stuff I love I don't understand exactly. And that goes for Morton Feldman's compositions or Mark Rothko or Pollock's paintings or a lot of Joyce or Samuel Delany's writing.