Is it possible for art to be bad?

Question

Is it possible for art to be bad, or it simply not to your taste?
What is bad art?

Is some art like the Emperors new clothes? There's nothing there but people haven't the nerve to say it, because there worried about being seen as barbarians?

Answer 1

Art is in itself, something that is subjective. It all depends on the artist's message. What does the artist want to portray? If the artist portrays it well and conveys the message well, then whether or not the response from people is terrible or they are appalled by it, it all comes down to the essence of the message and the beauty of the art in the eyes of those who can understand it.

Answer 2

Oh yeah, it's really, Really, REALLY possible for art to be bad. It's not (as some people have claimed) all in the eye of the beholder. Have you ever read any of the poetry that people post on this site? They ask for opinions, and I just don't have the heart to tell them they're flat-out LOUSY.

The word "Art" is also the root of "artifice" and "artisan" as well. To be an artist is to wield the artifices (the techniques) with style and precision. To be an artist is a great deal more than just venting emotions in oils or words (or whatever). Any idiot can do this. A genuine artist is someone who can wield the tools of art and create something that doesn't simply express what he/she feels, but manages to express what the viewer/listener feels.

A lot of people forget that the purpose of art isn't self-communication, but communication with others. Over the centuries, every art has developed objective techniques for accomplishing this goal. The artist is the one who can master these techniques and employ them in an inspired way to achieve genuine expressive elegance -- in whatever form.

Bad art is the person who doesn't know technique, and who, as a result, just blathers on and on to no effect. Blathering we can get from any two year old. We should expect more from artists.

Answer 3

YES, it is possible for art to be bad, and it doesn't have much to do with taste. There are eras of art that I do not like, but I don't think that it is bad art. BUT, If someone's concept is just weak to begin with, then no amount of technical ability can make the art good. On the flip side of the coin, someone can have a great concept and horrible quality, in this case the concept doesn't save the art.

Answer 4

Of course art can be bad.

Bad or good usually depends on three things: the artist's skill level, the artist's intent and the viewer's perception.

Example: You ever see in a thrift shop or yard sale some little painting by some amateur beginner painter? They tried to paint a portrait of their Aunt Martha and the image came out looking more like Aunt Martha's Pug Bulldog? In this case the art is bad because the skill level needed to render a realistic or semi-realistic portrait hasn't been (and perhaps never will be) reached.

There are (and were) highly gifted artists who have reached the advanced levels of their craft where they can paint anything and everything they want to and they chose to turn away from more realistic renderings of subject matter for whatever reasons. They chose to go into abstractions and their skill levels follow them into whatever directions they take their art. Artists like Picasso, Pollock, Dali and Stuart Davis were highly skilled craftsmen who took their creativity beyond realism.

Classical art tells a specific story and tells the viewer what to think. Modern art also tells a story but expects the viewer to also think for themselves, to also be involved to defining the story.

Answer 5

Well, of course, the Nazis were really well up on this sort of question, as the exhibition in 1937 of 'degenerate Art' showed. Attempting to prescribe good art is like trying to define 'objectively' what good food is! As with food, tastes differ, and what suits one will not suit all. Additionally, there is the question of the orientation and desires of the viewer.

One major confusion is that which judges some art to be 'bad' because- in the eye of the particular viewer- it did not require much skill to accomplish. This is plain daft. It takes a lot of skill to climb Everest, to balance spinning plates on sticks, or to play a violin, but we do not call these art. Skill is plainly a different dimension...

What is a real shame is the tendency to desire a single scale from 'good' to 'bad' art almost as if the viewer is afraid to see what individual response the work evokes in them, but instead wants someone else to tell them whether they should be impressed or not....

Answer 6

I believe good art to be what stirs emotion in us. So for art to be bad we have to feel no connection in what the artist has created. In general, some art can stir emotion in very few people, and so only a small minority would find the art to be good, which you could then possibly classify as bad art, as it does not connect to a wide range of people so a lot of people would think it was bad. Same goes for music really.

Answer 7

Art is all a matter of taste. What one person considers good another will think is rubbish. You have the right to an opinion on art, and shouldn't be criticised if you don't like something.

Answer 8

I think that art cannot be bad. I think that not everything is art. We not agree with it and might find it offensive, but it isn't bad.
Many people abuse art and use it as a platform to hide behind. I for one think that it is our duty as citizens of this world to have the ability to know when something is miss judged or used in a way that is not true.

Answer 9

This is the best answer. Art has rules. Rules can be broken but first you must know what the rules are and then to break them you must know to what advantage it serves to break them. That art which breaks the rules for no good reason is bad art. Everything else is not bad art.If you understand this you understand art.

Answer 10

Emperors new clothes, everyone knows good taste when they see it .. i have been to art galleries and trust me some look like a 3 year old dipped their hands in oil paint and went crazy on the canvas ..