I understand if you don’t favor contemporary art — everyone is entitled to their own opinion — but when you claim that there is no purpose, there is an issue.
Art is not only about technique; while important, you do not need to exhibit technique to make a moving art piece. There is an old quote by Cesar A. Cruz stating, “Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.”
If you are bothered, even enraged, by the lack of technical ability, you are comfortable. There is power in becoming uncomfortable and power in leaving your comfort zone because the ability to create is a skill.
Ideas are a skill. You could be the most talented technical artist in the world and have no creativity — what are you left with? Bland, unoriginal paintings and copies of already created works.
Contemporary art challenges this, putting ideas and messages into the world that need to be heard. Those who think that art cannot surpass technical skill won’t understand contemporary or modern art because the pieces in that category are made to challenge norms and speak on issues, to mean something, to be more than just technique.
At first glance, I understand why many think contemporary art is useless. What is art if it is not technical? Art is an idea; you don’t need a canvas to create art. Imagine you are walking through an art museum, and you run into a pile of candy, sitting in a corner. You are advertised to take a piece, so you do; you have now participated in this art piece. — ‘But how could this pile of candy be art? It’s just a pile of candy?’
Well, This is “Untitled (Ross in L.A.)” by Félix González-Torres, a famous piece where at its origination was the same weight as Torres’s lover, taken by their AIDS disease. As people walk past and take a candy, they participate in art, and as pieces are taken from the pile, they degrade what Torres’ lover once was, the same way AIDS did.
This piece is a memorial and speaks on the effects of AIDS on everyday people; it is a message. To say that this is not art just because there was no physical technique, painted or drawn, is close-minded.
Art has no guidelines or rules, and it is made to challenge and reveal what others may not see every day, disturb the comforted, and comfort the disturbed; that is the entire purpose of art.
How about another canvas-less piece? You walk through a hallway filled with bubbles blowing everywhere; this is, again, art. While unconventional and seemingly pointless, these bubbles are blown into the air holding a secret; this piece is “en el aire” by Teresa Margolles and speaks on Mexico’s current state, a country known for its beauty and its criminal activity.
The bubbles represent beauty because, at first glance, these bubbles are beautiful, blowing through the air, popping on the walls and the people walking through. Still, when you look further and learn that those bubbles are created with the water from a Mexican morgue, it shows just how much of an impact these deaths have had.
Every bubble represents a person, the water of the bubbles coming directly from the bodies of the deceased, and every pop of a bubble represents how quickly life can disappear because, as quickly as a person can change from alive to dead, a bubble can be blown and popped.
To put it simply, the girls that get it get it, and the girls that don’t don’t. I view the issue with contemporary art as the biggest reason why so many do not care for it is that many need to look into what the piece means and reflects. They see a pile of candy or a hall of bubbles and deem it meaningless to move on to the flashier pieces. Those who don’t care to try and understand, those who don’t (and won’t try) to get it, are often those who will claim there is no point.
There is a point— you must care enough to look for it.
