Readings for Week 4

For the reading this week, I started reading Sister Stokes' essay on Dadaism... but then I had to move to my home computer and couldn't open it anymore. So, I went onto Wikipedia and found the section on Dada.

I find Dada so intriguing, and I think it's because it was an anti-art movement. The whole concept of an anti-art movement just makes me giggle inside! Are artists so high and mighty, so self-righteous in their positions as aestheticians for the lowly masses that they can't stand a little teasing?! Could it really cause a reviewer from the American Art News to say, "The Dada philosophy is the sickest, most paralyzing and most destructive thing that has ever originated from the brain of man."? I'm sorry, but I'm going to side with the Dadaists on this one; the art community as a whole can just get over it.

I have a very high opinion of art, but a very low opinion of the "elite" in art. I despise that anyone could possible have an ego so large that they would seek to define beauty for the rest of us. I can't stand that there is right and wrong when creating and analyzing art. I believe with my whole heart that beauty, art, and love for aesthetics were gifts from a generous God on high. I believe that just as he made each of us, His children, unique, He made our individual perceptions different from those belonging to anyone else. Beauty cannot possibly be defined, categorized, or systematized; beauty is too different for each of us!

If I see a painting that stops me in my tracks and catches all of my senses, draws me in and forces me to stay then there's a good chance that it's "art." I may sit and study the piece itself; I may look for what it's portraying and its symbolism. Later, I may look up it's background and the artist to gain a broader understanding. On the other hand, I may not. But that's my choice. Just because a painting is hanging in a museum doesn't mean that it's art for me, for you, or maybe Fred next door. "Art" is what people decide it is, and it's different for everyone. There's a reason so many people hate modern art- It's just not that good!

I think that art needs to return to the values of the general public. We're not as dumb as "the elite" think we are. I think that artists need to be less concerned with reaching out to the upper crust of society. They should remember that if their work can't catch the eye of the public, then it shouldn't matter if they can catch the eyes of those who are "trained."