The Same Old Shit

You gotta sink, gotta sink, gotta sink to swim
impersonate greater persons,
cause we all know art is hard,
when we don't know who we are.
-Cursive, from the song 'Art is Hard'

Sometimes I wish I could revert back to when I was a child. I didn’t
care about what art truly is, or what makes good art; I just did it for
fun. To a kid, art is what art is: art. It is projection of what is
going on in your mind. It is a form of expression that is pleasurable.
To look for the origin of art or where it came from cannot possibly be
determined because art is inside all of us. Today in class we talked
about how as humans we try to distinguish ‘good’ art from ‘shit’ art.
Throughout history, art has belonged to the more elite classes because
they had the education to appreciate the art, as well as the cash to
shell out. What makes a painting worth money? It might be the
uniqueness and the exclusivity that is tacked onto it. Rich people want
to impress other rich people, and make those below them realize they
aren’t the same. Everyone is out to seem better, or more knowledgeable,
or wiser than everyone else. Those who can’t have what they want, want
even more. Contemporary artists like Andy Warhol came around and tried
to prove that art isn’t just for the wealthy. His interpretations of
consumerism turned into art when he painted a can of Campbell’s soup.
Advertisement and consumerism is a huge part to our society today, so it
has meaning to us. That copy of the Campbell’s soup print isn’t unique
by any means, but the message behind it is what makes it art. Art is a
statement through the individual. Is a Warhol print less valuable or
less artful than a Picasso painting? Is one superior to the other?
Those are only famous artists too. They probably both got their
recognition from some group who said their art was cool, and everyone
else wanted to follow. Can people really explain why they like a piece
of art? I know I can’t. Walter Benjamin makes the argument that art is
always reproducible. Theodor Adorno argues that art loses its meaning
when it “organizes the consumer.” Current forms of art fall under both
of these categories. People are always learning from each other, so
their art undeniably reflects off of other influential individuals. Art
comes out of the mind, and our mind is formed by the world around us.
It seems logical that we would create art that is similar to others. Is
there any such thing as complete individual thought? At the same time,
Adorno’s beliefs can be widely seen in contemporary art forms like film.
I refuse to go watch the same cliché movies over and over again.
Through the demand for mindless entertainment and special effects, the
meaningfulness of the “art” is lost. I can’t say film today isn’t art
though. It is still a form of expression and has an audience. Without
an audience, what good would art be? Who is to say I’m not an artist?
My mind is projecting a viewpoint, and it is meaningful. Maybe not to
you, but to someone out there. Defining art all depends on the receptor
and how they like it. I’ll go out on limb and let you know I’m no less
of an artist than a genius like Shakespeare. You disagree? Why is
Shakespeare considered a literary genius? It’s all in the mind of the
beholder. It is whatever they decide is “genius”, “good”, “bad” or utter
“shit”. I say we go back to aimlessly drawing like we once did as kids,
and forget about what makes it art.