i think contemporary art’s obsession with meaning is weird, given that it’s not actually very good at communicating meaning.
(disclaimer. this doesnt apply to all contemporary art. there are a bunch of people out there making nice pictures and i respect that. this isnt about that.)
basically, contemporary art, as a movement, emphasises meaning, having a message, communicating something, over what your art looks like. which i mean, that’s fine if you want to do that. i wont stop you. but if you’re going to emphasise meaning over aesthetics, you need to do a good job with your meaning. i dont mean like, coming up with some revolutionary new idea. contemporary art is great at that. i mean git gud at communication.
contemporary art is made by people with an art education, for people with an art education. it is not understandable by people without an art education (ie. most people) AND/OR without reading the title/artist statement. that is… a fundamental failure to communicate, imo. if people can’t understand your artwork JUST BY LOOKING AT/EXPERIENCING your artwork, it’s failed. i don’t care how great art world people think it is, if no one else gets it it’s not very good. you’re not actually saying anything to most people.
this also makes art seem elitist and pretentious. it’s why lots of people just dont give a shit about art. it doesnt look good and they dont get it, so they get nothing out of it. it does nothing for them, why would they like it?
and also. i am at art school right now. the emphasis of meaning over aesthetic is pretty sucky for anyone (eg. me) who really prefers aesthetic. like, i draw dragons because i like dragons. it’s not really more complex than that. attempts to make it more complex always seem kind of disingenuous to me.
it’s also like…. last semester i did a life drawing class, because i wanted to get better at drawing people. so obv i was mostly drawing as realistically as possible. the teacher… was not super happy about that. it feels weird to be constantly told to draw more expressively or whatever in art school. like trying to force me to fit with everyone else, even tho art school and contemporary art in general are theoretically about doing whatever you want basically