In this cent
ury art is less about expression and more about pure shock. To the side is a painting by Dale Frank. What is this? My three year old sister made a painting just like this. How is this art? Sure it’s colors on a page so it is by definition “art”. But how is it true? What is to learn from this? What is expressed? How are you supposed to get some sort of insight that real art gives without totally making it up. Don’t get me wrong there are some beautiful and interesting pieces in modern art; the bulk of it though just seems empty. How is a pile of glued soda cans going to leave a little mark on someone’s soul? Van Gough’s “Starry Night” has left an impact on the generations that followed its inception. That is art. But like Van Gough it has gone a little nuts.
Music is another form of art that has been around since the dawn of man. Before we had linguistics mastered we were very adept at creating audio art. Music has been in constant evolution all over the planet: different style for every time and place. It has the strange ability to connect people and touch them in ways that written language can’t convey. Those songs from our childhood that makes us cry, a symphony that conveys life, notes that bring us to our feet. These all still exists but music and musicians as a whole have sold their souls. Music has become not about affecting people in a powerful way but having the most zero’s behind that five that you possibly can.
Exhibit A: the Miley Cyrus and Hannah Montana regime. It’s not about her music (which is excruciating) but how many things you can plaster her plastic face on. Exhibit B: Paris Hilton. She has a CD. Yep that tone deaf shrew was paid to wail like a dying animal. Oh and trust me she was paid well. Exhibit C: Justin Bieber. He breathes; that should be a capital offense. Every single one of his songs can be construed as an innuendo . . . Exhibit Q: Britney Spears. This washed up has been is still trying to make music. Not that she ever did. Her shrieky, needy, tunes somehow made her one of the biggest names in the biz. ATTENTION REAL TALENT PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, GO FOR A REACORD DEAL. My ears need a break.
Film, art’s most recent spawn, was once true to the creative creed but now the ones most widely appreciated are created on the foundation of making money. There are some great films out there. I am an avid movie go-er but the standard is precariously low. Some ideas that should never be uttered aloud are being produced. Like “Tip Toes,” a movie created with no comprehensible theme, plot, or poster. (See Cracked’s article “The Stupidest Movie Premise Ever”)There are some powerful films overshadowed by their steroid taking big brothers. IE: X-Men 3, Shark Boy and Lava Girl, Pinocchio (Live, Italian version) etc.
Our consumerist larger than life society can’t sustain art and its harsh truth. Sometimes though we see little glimmers of real art trying to break through the conformity holding it back. Maybe art is not dead; just gone. It can’t survive in the spotlight but is survived by the youth. Johnny playing in the basement, Rita dancing out her feelings, the raw emotion in their personal art, and the Podunk films; this is the art of our generation. Art lives on in our hearts as we all find ways to express it. I urge you all bored enough that you’re reading this to create, teach, and live in the way you only can with art. Make your mark with your truth.
