Art, art, art. Lotta people like it, lotta folks find it boring.
I’m talking about modern visual art, in this case – as I think we can agree that pretty much every person has some appreciation for some form of art, whether it is movies, music or literature.
And when it comes to modern art – paintings, sculpture, etc – I tend to find myself situated somewhere in the middle of this range of endearment.
Modern art, or popular conceptions of it at least, is epitomized by its movement away from classical modes of visual representation. Moving through cubism (Picasso), surrealism (Dali), and likely a multitude of other artistic modes that I’m entirely ignorant of, things have steadily moved away from art as a representation of beauty into art as a self-reflexive study of its own capabilities of expression.
When your average pleb (like me) thinks of contemporary art, then, they toss up images of bleak minimalism, pop art and abstract blocks of colour.
Artists like Peter Halley,
“Six prisons in color”, 2004
Or Theo van Doesburg,
“Counter Composition V”, 1924
Or Joseph Beuys.
“Fat Chair”, 1964
If I were to tell you that Halley’s artwork is inspired by Baudrillard’s theory of simulacra and the hyper-real, well, things might get a bit more interesting. Likewise, if I were to tell you that Theo van Doesburg was also a talented impressionist portrait painter, it might make his other art seem a little more expertly crafted.
But ultimately in these examples, a sentiment permeates many of us along the lines of: “Oh, I could have probably done that myself.” Though expressive once a context is provided for us and we are given the tools for analysis, this art doesn’t smack of the talent required to paint a Mona Lisa or sculpt a Venus de Milo.
Not to discredit the art or the artists themselves, of course. The examination of the essentials of form and colour in visual art can be fascinating. The problem that contemporary art faces, though, is that not enough people share this sentiment.
What modern art can do to combat this derisive attitude is give more attention to the contemporary artists who are changing the way we can think about the medium – and doing it in a completely mind-blowing way.
Tom Deininger is one such person. The image below looks like an extremely detailed – perhaps photoshopped – collage made into the countenance of Marilyn Monroe. Take a look at it and then watch this video.
“Marilyn Monroe”, 2001
Evidently, Deininger has taken household objects like wires, broken electronics and jewelry and used them to create a stunning sculpture when viewed from the right angle. He’s a trash artist.
Willard Wigan is another artist who is dramatically shifting our conception of human ability for expression. He creates microscopic figures and objects within a fairly unconventional canvas: needle heads and eyes. I use the term microscopic quite literally – see for yourself:
“Statue of Liberty”, 2007
This interview explains how Wigan creates his incredible work, and provides interesting biographical details that explain why he creates this art in the first place.
(It also has some of the funniest news quotes I’ve seen in a long time. Wigan on sculpting his miniature masterpieces: “It’s misery.” On an accident while creating an Alice in Wonderland in the eye of a needle: “I think I inhaled her.”)
Wigan’s unbelievable art conveys a subtle message: that even amazing things can come in small forms. I find this especially pertinent in the “bigger is better” mentality that seems to exist in the West. His art implies that what the eye can’t see can still be beautiful – a nice message to bring into our lives, no?
Elsewhere, astounding modern art is found in the most unlikely of places: the science lab.
Lars Bech’s art (below) resembles the abstract expressionist art that we’ve come to ignore through oversaturation in the past century. The twist is that it isn’t a painting: this is a photograph of a chemical compound.
“Doxorubin in methanol and dimethylbenzenesulfonic acid (80x)”, 1996
This astounds me because of the artist’s ability to capture the beauty that evades us in the world. He engages our appreciation of what the world holds that we can’t seem to see by ourselves.
Too often, people use art as a way of simplifying the world around them. Or, rather, it is poor art that does this for them.
Art is best used in order to show how complex, incredible, and truly overwhelming the world is. It shouldn’t simplify, summarize or reduce the world as we know it.
As we see in artists and visionaries like Deininger and Wigan, good modern art revels in the world’s complexity – showing that even the simple things in life can be complicated.
For modern art to stay relevant to the masses, it has to amaze them.
