I wrote this awhile back in my painting class while my teacher was showing us a bunch of slides. Please note that I tend to lump all modern art together. Sorry. Get over it if you have a problem with that ; )
I like some modern art but I also dislike the majority that I see.
I will also venture into a few art taboos. I call some things ugly, and some pieces of art bad. Again, get over it. Yes everyone can paint. But not everyone can paint well. It's the same with every other form of art. And I do believe that not everyone who calls themselves an artist should.
Don't hate me.
We're sitting here in class and all the teacher shows us is modern art. And of that art, the majority of it is taking what we know and are familiar with and distorting or destroying it. It seems like this is so much reflected in our culture today. Twist and distort everything. Nothing is real and matter-of-fact. However, is it our culture affecting our art? Or is art affecting our culture. I think art is the expression and outpouring of a people and culture. The beauty or ugliness of art can only come from the artist and ultimately from the culture. There, that's right, I said it. Ugliness. That's what much of the art I see portrays. The artist can't give what they don't have. If there is no truth, beauty, and goodness in the work, this is merely a reflection of the artist himself. I feel so sorry for the artist who's only intent is to distort and destroy, because that shows a part of who he is.
True art, art in it's fullest, has to have in it a piece of the ultimate truth, God. In a culture where God is rejected, they fear truth and that leads to the degeneration of art. Whether they realize it or not, truth is feared and they go to any and all means to make disregarding and ignoring truth a norm.
I feel like so often people say art has to constantly grow, change, stretch, and evolve, but if it goes too fast it runs the risk of leaving itself behind. If it forgets what it is and where it comes from, what is it? It's lost its identity. If something's lost, how do you find it again? You have to go back to its roots, to the last place you saw it. You have to poke and prod until you find its very essence. You have to go back to truth, beauty, and goodness.
True art points beyond itself. Just as when you draw closer to Our Lady she always points beyond herself to her son, art should point beyond itself. To something more. All art doesn't have to be specifically religious. But it should point beyond itself to something bigger. There's only so much we can learn as we stare at a canvas whose specific purpose is to display color or a texture. But when it elevates our thoughts, and points us to that something more, that's when it is really doing something. That's when its giving itself to the world as art ought to.
"Art must be an expression of love or it is nothing." ~ Marc Chagall
If love is Christ, it must express Christ, in one way or another.
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