- All art is stupid
- All art is pointless
- I hate art
- I don't understand art
- Artists are overrated
- Art does not contribute to our society
Let's address these negative connotations. The first: All art is stupid and pointless. Before attending art school for 2 years I too believed this. I didn't see the point in the cave drawings from 30,000 years ago or Joseph Kosuth's One and Three Chairs. Those two pieces of art has heavily impacted society and culture. Let's take a look at the cave painting found about 32,000 years ago.
This "stupid" cave painting has helped scientists better understand what animals and materials were available during that time. Without the cave drawings we would have not known what people did in their daily life or how they lived. We now know what kind of animals existed. The medium they used also plays an important role because it helped create this piece of art. Whoever did this probably did not intend for it to be art but rather documented what they experienced in daily life.
Now let's jump to modern art, which can be difficult to understand. Not many people like modern art because it is too hard to understand and it requires much more thought. Kosuth's One and Three Chairs is simple yet can be very complicated if you really research the entire meaning behind it. I will not get into the in depth details (which I could easily do since I wrote a 5 page paper on his artwork), but give you a simple analytical proposition.
In this image, you see a photograph of a chair, an actual chair, and a definition of chair. Kosuth wants you to think: What is a chair? What is the function of a chair? I dare you to leave a comment for those two questions.
This two pieces of art show that art is not stupid and pointless. Art has a function! That is what I want you to think of art as, as a function. What function does it serve? Kosuth took a regular chair, something we mindlessly use every single day and made it into art. While we are on the subject of a chair, took a look at the chair you are sitting in. Someone, probably an artist, designed that chair. Or how about that logo on your Caribou coffee? A graphic designer created that on a computer using a program called Adobe. Or how about that painting that is carelessly hanging on your wall? An artist did that. So the next time you think art is stupid and pointless maybe you should reconsider and take a look at everything around you. Appreciate some of these things because someone spent hours designing and creating these objects and pieces of art. There are millions of artists out there who create many of the things we buy, own, see, and hear.
I don't understand art. If you don't understand art do some fucking research. Find one artist that you like, it can be a painter, a graffiti artist, a sculptor, or a graphic designer, and research them. Figure out why they create the art they do. Find the meanings behind it. This doesn't require you to step foot into a drafty old art museum, just use the internet. I think you will find after about 5 minutes that you kinda get their message. You don't have to understand art in order to like it. You can just simply like it for what it is. Better yet, buy a book on art or even take an art class to better understand it.
My favorite: Artists are overrated. The first thing I will say to this is if you say you are a starving artist please take the liberty of go getting a fucking job you pathetic lazy scumguzzler.I don't give a shit if you take a job at a gas station, at least it provides you with some income while you are creating your art. That "starving artist" bullshit is so heavily overrated. Get a job like normal people. Anyways...with the demand for graphic designers and the need for new upcoming ideas, art provides jobs for people. It provides an income. So therefore, art creates jobs. Now how can you hate that?
Art does not contribute to our society. Hmmm...really? You really think it doesn't? Wow, because last I checked it creates jobs, gives us a better understanding of our culture and past, and let's artists exercise their First Amendment right. Thinking about taking that back about now? Yeah, I think so.
In no way do I expect to miraculously change your foolish and close minded opinion, but simple broaden your education on art and the purpose it serves. With that I close this argument and leave it up for debate.
Comment away you filthy swine!