Art is intention.
Art is the outcome of creating something that you hope will convey your intention.
Bad art is art that has ulterior motives to its creation. The problem that most artists struggle with in the capitalist era is the motive of monetary gain. Artists often wrestle between making genuine art and making art that will produce money. Ultimately this problem is the creator of genuine bad art.
Bad art is not art that is aesthetically unappealing. Oftentimes artists who challenge the standard for art are the ones who are shunned for being “lazy” or “Crude”. With our definition of art being “Intent” It becomes more complex to separate art into “good” or “bad”.
A work of art that is often criticized for being “bad” is the Dadaist piece Fountain by Marcel Duchamp. This piece is quite simply a porcelain urinal signed by Duchamp put on a pedestal to be viewed. How could this be art?
Subjectivity is a fickle thing to discuss when dealing with art. This article could have had the words “art is subjective” plastered all over it and that would have gotten the point across. But it doesn’t get us anywhere. Yes, art is subjective. But so is everything else. There’s no need to point out the obvious when it invites no discourse.
Postmodernist art has been on the rise in recent years. Postmodernism as a whole is the abstraction and experimentation of traditional art values which can lead to works of art that defy what we have previously considered to be art. This trend is thought by some to be brought on by the increasing attainability of photography and other recording devices. The traditional landscape painting is a relic. There’s no use painting something that can be consumed en masse in much higher quality by the use of a camera. This, of course, is an inaccurate assessment of modernism. Modernism stemmed from a shift in the purpose of art. In the 18th century, paintings were made to appease some sort of patron who funded the making of it. This diminishes the artist’s vision and lessens the intent for art made by the artist. However, the modernist movement started in the early 19th century. This movement consisted of artists making art free from any outside support. It allowed for a more pure portrayal of the artist’s intent. And by our definition, Better art.
A fair few people don’t resonate with the newest movement of art. The reasons for the disdain vary from person to person but the basis of their arguments recalls the traditional beauty of Renaissance artists and compares it to the seemingly impenetrable art of today.
The great thing about art is that you don’t have to consume it. You could just not look at that painting. You could just not listen to noisy music. If you do not enjoy a piece of media, you do not have to enjoy it. Some would respond with a statement along the lines of “bad art being made invites more bad art to be made.” This implies that eventually all classic artists will be replaced by the “corrupt” artists of today. If this was the case, I would invite you to create your own art. Being dissatisfied with the artistic climate of the time inspired some of the greatest works of art to be made. So make good art.
The art market itself is a problem when dealing with the definition of art. When purchasing a piece of art it is required to assign a price tag to the work. That price tag is often set by the artist who put in the work to create the art and thus values it based on their conception. In the case where the artist does not set a price on the art, a middleman is employed to find a fitting price for a work. This poses the question of what the price of art means. If one painting is worth twice as much as another work, Is it twice as good?
Instead of focusing on what the current art market struggles with, we’ll focus on what the art market should be. Art should be free. It should be effortless to consume your favorite art. No one person should be able to have exclusive rights to art. This concept is not plausible in the current year as artists need to make money in order to survive. This entire problem could be solved rather cleanly in theory with the implementation of a social system dedicated to creators of art. We pay taxes to the government which then gets distributed to artists via an automated royalty system that pays artists based on how influential their art is. We solved it. Art is free. Artists get money now. But nobody is going to implement this system. Social welfare is a hot topic in the American climate. People seem to not want to pay extra taxes for basic human rights. And if they won’t pay for basic human rights, why would they pay for free art?
Fountain is a piece of art that requires deeper interpretation than physical characteristics. The name “fountain” is ironic as the urinal is clearly not a fountain. It’s absurd to even think of drinking from a urinal like it were a fountain. And so comparing the urinal as art to a fountain is equated to comparing the urinal as an object to art.
Art is a uniquely human process. It is colloquially agreed upon that art cannot be made by anything other than humans. This makes sense when referring to our definition of art as “intention.” Some people compare beautiful natural sights to art. The sunset doesn’t know that it looks aesthetically appealing. It doesn’t have any meaning. We, as humans, create the meaning behind these natural wonders. And thus, create art. But why? Art can be used in many ways. In the most stripped-down reason, art is to remind us of our own consciousness. Being a uniquely human process, it can help us feel more human when making and consuming it. In a way, art is the most important human function. Without it we would just be dedicating our lives to productivity. There would be no difference between us and androids. On the topic of androids, A.I. art is not art. It is an illustration. Our fascination with generative art is derived from its ability to turn language into a discernible image. It does this by pulling from a body of works composed of millions of entries. These works are oftentimes not given willingly but that’s a different issue. The A.I. then mixes and matches the works and returns something relating to your prompt. It is an immense technological feat but not art.
So why do we make art? We make it to communicate our ideas. In a raw, beautiful show of our humanity we make art. Art is a testament to who we are as humans… to how far we’ve come and an insight into our wonderful organic minds.
