Art: Classic vs. Modern

October 1, 2013

Today I had what I consider to be one of the best dialogues of the term so far. I have been a little disappointed about the book we are reading about art with Ingrid. I have mentioned this before in other reflections that I have made, but what impresses me the most is that even though the book is not one of my favorites the dialogues that we have had about it have been the ones I have enjoyed the most. So in this reflection, I will write about our dialogue today and the things that I learned.

Is the essence of things in the objects themselves or in the people who see the objects? Is there something that is equal to all persons? Could that something be what makes us see the same essence of thing? Everyone knows what a tree is, everyone knows the essence of a tree. But isn’t this too abstract? Isn’t what we know only a concept of what a tree is? How can we actually tell what the essence of a tree is? What I mean is that when everyone thinks of a tree, and then draw it, most people would draw this: 

But isn’t this something that society or our childhood has taught us? Why don't we just draw a tree like this

? I think this represents a tree as much as the other drawing. But still, this is not what we have learned to draw in order to represent a tree.

Lately art has moved from objective to the representation of concepts. All of this modern art (which I have criticized in other reflections) is an example of what I am talking about; paintings don't try to represent the world as we see it is anymore, now they are just a representation of the concept for the artist.  This is why many times in order to understand this modern art one has to read an explanation of some sort. Art now is not something that we can just observe and understand, we need to try to search for a deeper meaning and to have an explanation of some sort. With classical paintings, it is easy to understand certain emotions or the context of the painting (for example, a biblical painting representing a passage), well at least it is easy for me to understand. Now with modern art it is not easy for me to understand; I cant see what relevance a paper clip on a white piece of paper has (this was a piece of art I saw at a museum a couple month ago) unless I read the artists explanation, and sometimes even then I still don't understand. Well no wonder I don't understand modern art, well really I don't think I understand modern anything.

But what is it that makes me appreciate classical paintings more than the modern ones? I really like those old paintings and I have found two reasons, so far, for the value that I give them. One is the effort and time that was invested in each of those paintings. Sometimes I think that people don't understand what those paintings require, maybe it is because I paint and I know what it is like to take a year or a year and a half in just one painting so I relate to them. My second reason is because of what those painting represent. I think that they represent so much more than a paper clip on a piece of white paper.

I still think that  I need to dig deeper in my brain to find the rest of the reasons, and at the same time also give a chance to these modern artists. Maybe there is something I am missing or something that I am not seeing and I just need to change my spectacles.

This was our art class today, and I had what I consider to be one of the best dialogues of the term so far. Even if I have been a little disappointed about the book we are reading, and I have mentioned this before in other reflections that I have made, I have been impressed that the dialogues that we have had about the subject have been the ones I have enjoyed the most.

The thing that left me thinking the most today was that one of my classmates mentioned that sometimes we have to notice the context of the painting as well as what they represented. Every painting is representing and is based on the date that they were painted on and the place. Sometimes paintings represent a crisis that was going on or a new movement, a change of though that was going on during that time. Just as art in our time represents the simple, minimalistic, fast-paced life that we now live. My classmate also mentioned that if we don't like the art of our time, maybe it is because we see something wrong in our life or in our times and that we don't like how the world is now.

Well, if this is true then it would mean that I don't like how people live their life now or the way the world is, since I don't like much of the art now.  I think it is an interesting thought to have in mind and to analyze it a bit more. But until then I think that I will just remain thinking that I am an old soul, who likes everything , from music, to values, to art, from years behind.