Art wisdom - good modern artists? anyone? (slight rant)

The seeming lack of good modern artists is not because this generation lacks talent, its just the galleries and art collectors lack taste. Spend 5 minutes looking at art on say DeviantArt and then look at pictures of modern art galleries. yea.

 The problem:

This is getting silly.

As an artist, it irritates me beyond belief how much literal junk winds up in modern art galleries.  (I'm serious. Search "cleaners throw away art")

The problem here is the art establishment has lost its marbles.  They insist on the mediocrity that is "modern" art, and ignore art of today that is actually good.

Look, I'm not the best artist on earth. But at least i realize this. And in my opinion, it probably took me longer to do the humorous comic in this post than some of this modern art actually took to make.

"But it look me a while to decide x." Yea, well Michelangelo didn't exactly paint the Sistine Chapel in 4 minutes while he strapped paint buckets to his back and crashed a pogo stick into the canvas, did he? No, he painted it over 4 YEARS.

Easy art checklist

Here is my simple definition of art. Artwork should roughly check at least one.

1. tell a story. have a narrative in its work.
2. convey a sense of intelligence, skill, and design.
3. reward those who explore with intricate details.
4. build a sense of emotion. (other than confusion and bewilderment on how its art or why someone paid a few mill for it)
5. have a sense of balance.
6. impress with its beauty and attention to detail despite its medium's constraints.
7. show a sense of beauty.
8. Have an attention to detail.

eww... you call that art?

Next time your looking at modern art, read over that checklist and see if your thoughts are similar:

1. uhh... maybe the busted 2 by 4. no... maybe the... no...
2. are you kidding? I could do that!
3. what reward? a preserved fish is not very rewarding in its details. and neither is the blank canvas.
4. d'oh
5. Half this stuff doesn't even have structural balance. let alone artistic balance.
6. not. a. chance.
7. see above.
8. was the artist even paying attention at all?

go. flipping. figure.

Now to restore your faith in humanity. ;)

Take a look at some of the more well known artists on say DeviantArt, perhaps search 64k and c64 demos on YouTube, play some indie games, or even take a look at some graffiti and see if things like these apply:

1. mainstream media sucks. this is where the good stories are!
2. Its beautiful. Wait, the artist did this BY HAND?
3. how was anyone supposed to spot that? its like, the width of a hair from the floor!
4. huh. wow. that's kinda deep.
5. simply elegant.
6. how on EARTH did they make a commodore 64 do THAT???
7. just, wow. Why can't we have more nice things like this?
8. wow. they like, actually took the time to write appointments on the calendar texture.

disclaimer: I'm not an art major, nor a professional artist, I'm an amateur artist, but i at least try to convey meaning in my art, and remember: If you don't like my opinions, you don't need to read this blog do you?