Fine Art, over the last 10 years, (in my opinion) has become more and more irrelevant outside of social causes and political opinions.
I know what you are thinking, an old disgruntled guy spouting out ‘In my day…’ That may or not be the case, but I believe the majority of Fine Art praised by the establishment, universities and art galleries is seemingly more and more just promotion and propaganda - yikes, did I write that out loud?
Have artists caved to fear and social shame...?
When I visit art galleries all I see is either political art or decorative, watered-down art that seems to be afraid of its own shadow. I mean, what happened to fine art? What happened to beauty? What happened to thought-provoking narratives of the human condition? What happened to the exploration of inner selves? What happened to love? What happened to hate? FEAR? JOY? WIN? LOSE? Have artists caved to fear and social shame to the point they are no longer capable of being able to truthfully portray humanity? How can art survive as a lie?
Just Google “Fine Art” and see what happens. You see boldly painted canvases of multi colored dogs, Freddy Mercury (also multi-colored, multi-colored portraits of Einstein, multi-colored unicorns and of course multicolored Trump as Hitler). Pretty sure Google has no idea what the true definition of Fine Art really is. Not sure I should have written that - I could get banned.
Is it possible for artists to get back to a place where they can express their inner thoughts, desires, demons..?
Here is Merriam-webster's definition of fine art.
Fine Art: Definition & Meaning. The term "fine art" refers to an art form practiced mainly for its aesthetic value and its beauty ("art for art's sake") rather than its functional value. Fine art is rooted in drawing and design-based works such as painting, printmaking, and sculpture. concerned primarily with the creation of beautiful objects.
Is it possible for artists to get back to a place where they can express their inner thoughts, desires, demons..? Can artists get to a place where painful things are presented in order to provoke thought? Can artists get back to a place where the human body is presented as a thing of beauty, and not simply porno? (some of that is really gross) And can we please stop with the multi-colored unicorns? - no offense to any multi-colored unicorns reading this.
YOU CAN DO THIS.
So get out there and create your art - whatever it is. Don’t let anyone tell you it’s not right. Or it’s ugly. Or it’s negative. Or it’s too happy. One person's opinion of good is another person’s evil. The human body is beautiful; 1-year-old or 99-years-old. Your darkest thoughts are YOUR thoughts to share. Your happy thoughts are yours to express. The important thing IS and always has been, that you are not afraid to say, write, draw, paint, mold, weld, paste, photograph, build... create whatever your little heart desires. YOU CAN DO THIS.