Jake Long
Associate Opinion Editor
Art is an ever-changing medium of personal expression. Art is an attempt to capture a moment and idolize the moment forever. Art hangs from our walls and blasts in our ears. Art carries us on the road and keeps us comfortable sitting or lying in our homes. The question is, is art supposed to last? Or is it supposed to slowly degrade as time separates the artwork from the moments the artists hoped to capture? Supposedly, the correct answer to this question is that it depends on the artist, on the art, and on the moment.
However, if we take one of the main goals of art, to reflect life, and put that into our focus lens, we will see that art that stands the test of time transcends life, not reflects it. This is a blatant contradiction that has plagued art enthusiasts for generations when asked to define art, and the most aberrant part is that they cannot. Questions are supposed to be answered in art, but if the question “what is art” cannot be answered clearly, then how are any clear answers supposed to be found in art? Perhaps that is the answer; that art is meant to be subjective to the point of becoming obsolete, and if art can become obsolete in this sense, then surely it can become obsolete over time.
But for some reason, art from centuries past has held onto fame and brought fortune to people so far removed from the artist that they would roll in their graves knowing the wealth their death defiance has raked in.
Certainly, every commercial artist is hoping to make a buck or two outside of their waiter job at the local diner, but can we really say that Michelangelo or Leonardo da Vinci still want their art to gather crowds large enough to fill double-decker buses when they have been lying in their graves for centuries? The general consensus is that they would call us fools and ask us to clear them from our pygmy white walls with discolored rectangles from the forever-mounted paintings.
There are plenty of answers in the past, to learn the past is to be prepared for the present, but art is an immediate representation of the current state of the world and therefore belongs in the present. So, if we continue to keep our focus on ancient art, instead of giving modern art and artists our full attention, then we will completely miss what the artists of today are trying to say; and what they are trying to alert us of. Perhaps that is why tourists flock to the oldies but goodies instead of getting their perceptions of the world challenged, they rest easy in the classics.
Then there is the question of whether both modern and ancient art can be appreciated for what they are. And this is a certainty because ancient art is as much a part of our cultural heritage as modern art is. A world without the “Mona Lisa” seems incredulous, but why not next door do we have an exhibit showcasing the millions of frames that artists create for our favorite animated movies and TV shows? Why is the same appreciation for “The Last Supper” not shown for the hand-painted landscapes in “Star Wars,” one of the most successful film franchises in history? Like art, your answer is for you to discover for yourself.