Can you explain modern art?

Question

I get some of it but I just feel lost when I look at modern art sometimes. Giant sculptures of strange geometric shapes or paintings of undescribable objects. Is their any common opinion about some of these pieces or are all they all left up to individual perception and subjective opinions?

Answer 1

Modern art began with Paul Cezanne who tried to decompose the physical representation of things to their visual essence, the apple became like a red ball and the tree a line. To be able to appreciate modern art you must have an understanding of the visual elements: form, lines, points, color, texture, their properties and their visual interactions: movement, balance, unity, repetition, continuity etc... A good artist will be able to use these elements and express his or her emotions through them which will reflect on the person looking at the piece.

The artist is a product of his time and culture and they are reflected on the work he produces. Good art should produce a strong sensation although the specific interpretation is subjective. For example Picasso's 'Guernica' produces a universal sensation of uneasiness how you interpret this sensation depends on your life and memories but if you learn the story of the piece, what the artist was expressing will become more evident.

If you are interested on art appreciation you can begin by reading a very short and important book 'Concerning the Spiritual in Art' by Vassili Kandinsky

Answer 2

Modern art is a general term used for most of the artistic production from the late 19th century until approximately the 1970s. (Recent art production is more often called Contemporary art or Postmodern art). Modern art refers to the then new approach to art where it was no longer important to represent a subject realistically — the invention of photography had made this function of art obsolete. Instead, artists started experimenting with new ways of seeing, with fresh ideas about the nature, materials and functions of art, often moving further toward abstraction.
The notion of modern art is closely related to Modernism.

Criticism

Modern art was heavily criticised (some would say misunderstood) while it was being produced. People complained that modern art was indistinguishable from non-art (such as a solid-coloured canvas, a pile of assorted objects, random cacophony (in the case of music) or, in the case of performance art, a mentally ill person. Although some works of modern art received critical acclaim, disapproval was the most common reaction among the general public. Much of the work produced could only be appreciated by other artists, or could not be understood without reading the artist's statement, a text that explained what the art "meant". This era was not the first time that the public could not understand contemporary art (for instance, the works of Mozart were considered challenging to listen to when they were first introduced), but it is the most notable. Modern art may have received a boost from an unlikely quarter: the Nazis set up public exhibitions to mock modern art as "degenerate", and when it became popular to eschew any behaviour that was similar to that of the Nazis, censorship and intolerance decreased throughout the Western world.

I want that it has helped a little.

Answer 3

If Shotokan was created around 1936, and Kajukenbo was created around 1947, I would have to say that Kajukenbo is more modern than Shotokan by 10 years, and any martial created after 1947 would be more modern than both Kajukenbo and Shotokan. I am not sure if these comparisons have any meaning. Both Kajukenbo and Shotokan have techniques in it that are ancient and traditional. I don't know enough about Shotokan to compare the two, so I won't even try. In a recorded interview, our founder Sijo Adriano Emperado claims that he didn't create anything new, he just combined existing techniques together. In the interview, he demonstrated what we would call Basic #1, which is a defense against a right punch. In essence, Basic #1, is a head evasion to the left from Western boxing, a left hand parry from Escrima, and a right hand inward block to the opponent's inner bicep, possibly from Okinawan Kenpo Karate, but the angle of the inward block is changed a bit to resemble the Escrima technique known as the "gunting" which is a hammerfist to the opponent's arm, and a right leg front kick to the stomach, probably from Okinawan Kenpo Karate. In Emperado Method Branch, the arm maneuvers would be done first, the front kick a split split second later. In Chaun Fa Branch, all movements are done simultaneously. Sijo Emperado claims that before he created Kajukenbo, no one else combined those moves from different styles before, but the moves themselves are not new. Maybe Sijo Emperado created a training method that is unique and different, but I would not say that it is modern, since very few other arts adopted Kajukenbo training methods.

Answer 4

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The word "modern" generally means "from the current era". The boundaries of its denotation are not exact, and it can actually have a range of other meanings. The person to ask would be the person whom you heard saying it. What matters is what THEY meant by it. It may refer to martial arts of recent origin, martial arts as practiced in the present, or martial arts that are mindfully continuing to adapt and evolve as opposed to trying to reproduce things as they were done in the past. For instance, a newly-invented martial art that uses gi uniforms, uses military-style methods such as line drills, has a lot of pre-modern Asian etiquette such as bowing, and so forth might be regarded as neo-traditionalist and not "modern". By contrast, people practicing an older art but adapting it to use modern neuroscientifically-sound training methods might describe their art as "modernized". The catchment of "modern" may include anything from the 20th century (some use "modern" to refer to a period of time between the first world war and whatever they term "postmodern"), or it may refer to what's VERY new, such as the past 20, 30 years. Another respondent pointed out that arts like muay Thai and BJJ pre-date ones like Shotokan. Good for him. I always find it amusing if I have to point that out. However, I've never heard anyone refer to, say, BJJ as modern without granting that Shotokan was as well, except those people whom I already knew were idiots.

Answer 5

Modern Art is not Art, it's a rebellion against Art. If you knew history you would know today's "art" is in fact a rebellion against true Art, like masterpieces by Leonardo Di Vinci and Michelangelo. That is true art.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNI07egoefc&ab_channel=PragerU

Answer 6

A lot of times I'll see a piece of modern art and all I feel is "wow, somebody got mad at their paintbrush!" or "That hunk of metal is art?" For the artist, though, it can be relaxing- or a good way to vent anger- to just splatter and smear colors on a canvas. Maybe sometimes they actually have a meaning intended, but it's often very hard to see that.

Answer 7

It's totally up to you to decide what you like. An artist may have a meaning behind a piece of work but it is up to you how you interpret that work. If it needs explanation and you can then see the worth in the piece then that's great. You can still admire a piece without having the faintest idea what it's about.

Answer 8

Don't base your opinions about art on what you are EXPECTED to feel. Just be honest with yourself and say "I don't get" or "I don't like it". It's fine. All art is about illiciting a mood out of the viewer. More than likely we'll all get something different out of either "The Mona Lisa" or some Pollack painting. I wouldn't even seek a back story on a particular piece. How does it make you FEEL?

Answer 9

It depends on the art, I think. Some types of modern art are supposed to be explorations of certain ideas or philosophies of color or design. Others are just plain weird.

Answer 10

Prior to the 19th century, artists were most often commissioned to make artwork by wealthy patrons, or institutions like the church. Much of this art depicted religious or mythological scenes that told stories and were intended to instruct the viewer. During the 19th century, many artists started to make art about people, places, or ideas that interested them, and of which they had direct experience. With the publication of psychologist Sigmund Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams (1899) and the popularization of the idea of a subconscious mind, many artists began exploring dreams, symbolism, and personal iconography as avenues for the depiction of their subjective experiences.