The Art of Understanding Art by Hugh Moss

Author:Hugh Moss
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Profile Books

9

post-revolutionary banality

Modern art is a disaster area. Never in the field of human history has so much been used by so many to say so little.

Banksy

Revolution is a temporary process; ‘perpetual revolution’ is an oxymoron. Revolution is against something, and once it is successful, its purpose is served. In both political and aesthetic terms, one order is overthrown to be replaced by another, then one moves on to hopefully harmonious existence within the new order. In other words, one shifts from conquering new realms to actually living in them, peacefully and productively.

Such cycles are an inevitable part of the modern political process, but in the aesthetic realm there should be no need to revolt again every few centuries. Once the revolution achieves its aims, the main ongoing task becomes one of dwelling in the newly conquered realms of perception and expression – a totally different process from that of revolution. There are secondary concerns, such as avoiding the drift back towards orthodoxy; but these are inevitable in any culture, and surmountable without any further major upheaval. All that it takes for artists to participate in and contribute to the newly conquered realms is personal creativity; there is no need to keep reinventing the wheel.

The western artistic revolution was just about over by the second half of the twentieth century. The constant discovery of the new had pretty much run its course, and it was time for revolution to give way to revelation through personal creativity within the newly expanded modes of artistic endeavour. This is where the jibes at an artist like Damien Hirst by Boris Johnson and Mary Moore miss the point. Like many of Johnson’s so-called ‘Saatchi mob’, Hirst is clearly extremely creative, and his choice of the parameters for his creativity should be entirely his. The western revolution expanded the possibilities for art; it didn’t cancel any of them, in anything other than the most temporary, low-level way. Whether he put a shark in a ‘frame’ (somewhat essential given the formaldehyde) or chose to produce entirely realistic sculpture; whether he works alone, struggling in a garret, or successfully manages a massive, commercial workshop; these are all unimportant details that have nothing to do with his creativity. Make whatever judgements you like about these minor details, but the fact remains that he has helped redefine art in the West in recent decades, captured the world’s imagination and advanced the debate about art and the human condition. It is true that I have yet to see a work by him that I would want to live with on a long-term basis, but that is an irrelevant distinction that I would extend to the output of many of his peers. That would never stop me from following his activities and admiring his creativity.

The low-level battles between movements during the revolution have been wildly misleading, obscuring its underlying purpose and wasting a great deal of time and energy on background noise. Another good example of this confusion is to be found

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.