The Close Relationship of Art and Pretension

If prostitution is the world's oldest profession then art must be the world's oldest con.

We have all seen or at least heard of some of the ridiculous contributions that fall under the heading of 'art'. Piles of bricks, unmade beds, pickled cows and canvasses smeared with various bodily fluids. We have all laughed at the absurdity of it all and have been stupefied by the latest nominations for the Turner Prize. Many of us have made such statements as 'my child could do better than that' or asked questions like 'how can anyone call that art?'

There have been 'pictures' created by monkeys, elephants and other, even more bizarre creatures. We have seen 'work' by people who have hurled blobs of paint, dropped shapes of coloured paper and ridden bicycles over canvasses.

We have witnessed the most inane, idiotic and ridiculous 'pictures' and explanations of 'pictures' that it is a wonder that we have an ounce of sanity left in our heads.

And here is the truth of it. All of this crap is constantly being perpetuated by a depressingly large group of people who want to give us the impression that it takes great intelligence and spiritual understanding to be able to properly appreciate this type of 'art'. Half of this elite group genuinely believe that they can see some meaning in this drivel whilst the rest so desperately want to be a part of this elite then they convince themselves of being able to see something in it. There are also other factors that enter into it such as pomp, pride and status. If you can 'appreciate' something that someone else cannot then you must be a better person.

As long as there are self-righteous people who set themselves up as being higher beings then there will be greedy, uncaring conmen who set themselves up as being 'artists'.

The whole scenario would be hilarious if it wasn't so tragic. All over the world are proper, highly talented Artists who are lucky if they ever get a real break. This is because of all of the charlatans that are cluttering up valuable floor space in galleries and the like. For the thousands of genuinely gifted people out there who are lucky if they can sell a few pictures for a fraction of their true value there are ten times as many crooks that are selling rubbish for obscene amounts of money donated by gullible idiots.

If you are hoping to see things change then don't hold your breath. The symptoms of this sick cycle are all facets of human nature. The best that we can do is to be aware of it.

Source : Ezinearticles