Articles

Post Modern Art: How to Understand it?

You don't have to be art expert.
You don't have to learn art in the academy, In order to be able to evaluate it, enjoy it, judge it. The sentence - "I don't understand modern art" is senseless. You don't say: "I don't understand literature" or "I don't understand cinema". You do not avoid from watching a movie or listening to music or reading a book, only because you don't have academic degree in literature or in film making. And you do not avoid from judging a song because you know nothing about composition.

Post-Modern Artists: whom do they paint for?
The abstract and the post-modern artists and critics are those who invented the distorted opinion, that one should be art expert in order to be able to appreciate it. It serves them. It's very comfortable for them. Instead of dealing with the audience of spectators and their opinions, they can treat them as irrelevant and not intellectual enough to understand their art.

Art - any kind of art - is made for every human being, not for scholars. One of the qualities of every great peace of art is that it speaks to every human being in every corner of our universe, at each and every period in history.

How to appreciate a painting
Dear art-lover: The best and most authentic way to appreciate work of art Is asking yourself while watching a painting: Does it move me? Does it bestow me an emotional experience? Does it make me feel good? inspire me? If it does, then it's a good, or even great, peace of art. No matter who the artist is. Whether famous - or completely unknown.
And if the painting have left you indifferent - then it is probably Not a Great Painting. Even though it is signed "Piet Mondrian" or "Paul Klee" or "Jackson Pollock". No need to pronounce famous names as if they were saints.

What you See is What There Is.
Remember: What you see on the canvas - is what there Is. No less and no more. No hidden meaning, no secret intention, no complicated philosophy. A few stains of color are nothing but a few stains of color.
And if, on your opinion, it's boring or ugly - Say it. Remember that your opinion is no less correct or less good than that of an expert. On the contrary - it's probably more authentic than that of any art critic.

Say your opinion Loud and Clear!
Dear reader, dear gallery visitor; Be confident, be more daring. You don't have to get close to the painting in a gallery to see who's the artist, before you dare remarking on it. Get used to say your honest opinion on post-modern art and abstract art. Say it loud and clear, with no inferior feelings.
If everyone will open their mouths in galleries and museums without fear to be considered fools, perhaps it will start making a change. Perhaps post-modern artists will have to be less arrogant, will have to show more commitment to their audience, and will invest their efforts in their professional skills rather than in publicity and gimmiks.

What about Realistic Art?
Realistic painting (or "figurative painting", or "representative painting") is not unachronistic. It is simply the way to convey the culture, ideas, lifestyle of our time, through the rules of classical art. (There's no art without rules. As there's no sports without rules.)
Realistic painting can be either good or bad - but at least it needs no pompous explanations. It has no reason to hide from your judgement. You just have to look and feel; see if it talks to your soul.

Smadar Katz, painter
2007