Times they are a’changin, and art is changing too. It isn’t changing because artists are getting better, but because the public is beginning to look, and looking begets seeing, and seeing begets better art. Art of the times reflects the mentality of the times, just as the art in a person’s home reveals their personality and values, and a new seriousness stalks the land. Those soup can labels and celebrity mugs artfully embodied the petty materialism and curdled narcissism in vogue at the time and we all paid the price for that. After all, unsubstantiated real-estate derivatives and unlimited editions of slap-dash prints do share certain attributes, and short shelf life is only one.
We face a new era chastened by the near collapse of the world economy and we’ve followed enough charlatan gurus to suspect we need to rely more on our own judgement and on our own sense of self. A new art for our time will be more intimate and accessible, and enlist the experience of viewers into real life’s retelling. When art is seen as the expression of the person who chooses it as much as the person who made it, the art speaks for them as well, what they want from life and how they see themselves. More and more it’s happening now.
1 comment:
Well said!
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