“I Don’t Get It”, A Typical Modern Problem In The Modern Art World
How often do you walk into the art gallery of a “promising genius” with an edgy title, just to wander around and occasionally stop next to a confusing piece which you most likely will not understand? You will probably stare deeply at it, node slowly a couple of times, and attempt to come up with an abstract sentence on the artist's vision. If you are an art specialist, or maybe were just born with a grasp for everything beautiful and not, this might not apply. However, if you’re just a regular civilian who wants to get a taste of the “artsy lifestyle”, filled with tiny fancy food, wine glasses, and turtlenecks, you might occasionally feel…lost. The good news is that that doesn’t make you an uncultured villager who will never get access to higher society, but rather, will make you a part of the majority. Is the contemporary art institution inherently a sham? Can anyone really become an artist by getting a nosebleed on a white canvas?
Richie Culver’s “Only God Can Judge This” (2019)
Modern art requires no education, a special course, or a diploma. It requires a vision. However, no one ever said that a vision should be obvious to everyone. After all, art is not always, and some might argue, should not at all be, created for the masses. Unfortunately, what this can often lead to is masses just being confused, and even angry. For some of us out there, the fact that something as non-sensible as Malevich’s Black Square or Cattelan’s Comedian can be sold for millions of dollars, is still beyond any form of common sense. Are we going through a revolution or a crisis?
Truth is, it might be neither. Art, as a reflection of individuality, society, and nature is constantly evolving. Its forms, let it be visual, auditory, or performing, are highly volatile rather than constant, and that’s one of the main reasons why we as people are so drawn to it. That does not, however, mean that modern art should lack any form of technique or professionalism, but rather, just suggests that borders and norms are highly blurred now, if not barely existent. What we observe as a result is art moving further and further away from its traditional forms, guided by pre-established rules and techniques, and towards abstraction, expression, and provoking an emotional response. Observing the history of art movements, and their development, we can see it often reflecting the social, religious, and events and changes that communities of that particular time are going through. After all, Renaissance marks the transition of the Middle Ages to modernity, the rise of Surrealism corresponds to our exploration of the mind and unconscious, and Abstract expressionism reflects a world in shambles after the Second World War, and in search of something pure and unlimited. If modern art had to be strictly defined, which is hardly possible, then it might be “art without a centre”. So unlike the other generations prior to us, we have brewed an environment so versatile and chaotic, that art in it is not pressured by any obligation to revolve around a particular style or an idea. Art focuses on exploration, and a mix of past techniques in search of something new.
Richie Culver’s Sunday S Copenhagen Exhibition (2020)
