Introduction
If I were to type out the terms “contemporary art” or “21st Century Art” or even “Art Today”, what comes to mind? Your head may fill with cliché’s, like some sort of generic and forced high concept piece, maybe an abstract painting containing seemingly wasted and splattered oils, or a strange and bewildering performance piece with no sensible point in sight.
Since my first year at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, I have not been a stranger to the way a person’s forehead wrinkles and their mouth stretches a couple of millimeters into an uncertain smirk after I have told them I go to art school. I can see the premature judgment in their eyes. They assume that an art student in the twenty first century is too bold, and spends one hundred thousand dollars over four years just to paint pretty pictures and play political activist, exploring concepts of no use to anyone. They live in a bubble in which the air is intoxicated with melancholy and spite for the world. I assure you, there are times where this is indeed true, but usually it is more of a youthful phase than anything else.
People make the assumption that art, while a noble thing to explore in some sense, does not open one to any job opportunities or any form of work because people who paint portraits are a dime a dozen, and those who ‘make it’ belong to some sort of exclusive club that happens to be is at capacity for people like you. To them, art itself is an exclusive club. It’s only fit for paintings, drawings, sculptures, etc. Art is a title fit only for things that go in museums; Things that express a specific sort of technical skill; a concept with much more literal symbolism or none at all. It doesn’t require too critical thinking or, God forbid, it requires too much. Art is only good if this particular person likes it and understands it. Picasso and Van Gogh are only masters because everyone and their mother say they are. In truth, not many people can tell you why, even in a half-assed summary.
My point with all of this ranting [and angst] is that art is not inclusive only to the Mona Lisa, Starry Night, or the Thinker. Its boundaries extend much farther than the average Joe would assume, especially in today’s modern world. Consider the progression of technology, and the introduction of ‘digital art’, which can touch nearly every medium that originated from more traditional manifestation. Also take in to account that design and production art have become so much more apart of our world. The Entertainment Industry, for example, has in itself created a plethora of art relating to the production of movies (both animated and live action), video games, books, and even fashion.
I have pondered this idea for quite the stretch of time. Art is no better or worse than it was before, it is simply different; the same way that music is no better or worse than years before. It is simply different. The problem, I feel, is that a lot of people don’t really understands art, or what defines art, or where to find it – but then again I’m sure this is nothing new either.
I suppose that is the reason I’ve decided to create this blog; Not only because I speak so little to so few people outside of my own world that spoken word itself has continued to fail me in my quest to express disagreement with the standard quo, but because I simply feel no one knows where to find the sort of art they would genuinely savor. Also, I am so exhausted by the amount of clichés I must deflect when I tell people what I do and what I like. I sort of only wish to have a platform in which I can spill my thoughts like a carton of milk onto a kitchen table.
I suppose it is also worth saying that you, as a reader, should keep in mind that this blog is mostly opinion based and personal-world-view based, and I understand that I am a fallible human being that most definitely has limited knowledge even of the world of art that I hold so close to my soul. No one knows everything about anything. This is simply a portal into the thoughts that I have had about how the arts are perceived today.
Welcome.
– Lex