Why is it that so much of modern art is trash? And I don’t even mean throwing up on a canvas and calling it art in the modern art sense but rather most forms of things produced by mainstream sources for mass consumption. Now obviously there are a couple of different factors here and too many to list in a single article but I do want to explore this topic a little more and talk about why it’s so important.
And I want to go beyond that most people have poor taste and therefore anything for mass consumption is going to be trash, while there may be some merit to that, I think there’s more going on here. Now first off let’s discuss art and why it’s important and why it matters to you as a man. I think many of use were raised thinking that art was a thing for effeminates or dorks when the truth is the best art comes from the most masculine souls.
And this thinking explains quite a bit about the state of modern art, but that’s another topic. Regardless art is important, it’s important because it influences the culture around it, including you and me. Those that create art are at the forefront of leading the culture. It’s a bit sad to watch people who say art doesn’t matter then get all huffy when the culture starts going against everything they believe in.
The Failure Of Modern Art
I believe I’ve written about why so many modern novels, including ones “for men” just aren’t that great anymore. For one they’re written to politically correct tropes and are more concerned with pushing an ideology than they are telling a story. I can’t tell you how many books “for men”, novels especially, I’ve groaned through because of how ridiculous they were. It takes you out of the story and makes you shake your head.
And this goes beyond novels too. Much art is produced not for truth, beauty, or hell even entertainment anymore. It produced to serve a political end. It’s like a religion in a way, except without any of the glory and reverence that religion once inspired. It’s like an anti-human religion. One where ugliness and baseness are worshipped as opposed to beauty.
And when something no longer reflects truth or beauty or entertains how can it be called art? Because a bunch of rich snobs say that it is? But it’s more than just this. It’s more than just political ends that makes modern art fail. Because these political ends stem from something even greater, a problem that runs deeper and affects all sorts of people resulting in tepid, uninspired, and “failed” art.
And this is a problem every man should address.
The Key To Good Art (And Life?)
What is missing from these is reality, the human experience. Now I don’t mean reality in the literal sense. In that case that dumb campbell’s soup painting would be more artful than Beowulf. That’s not what I’m saying at all. Rather what I mean is what is missing from much art today, especially novels, is reality. The realities of human nature and life experience. Without life experience how can you expect to make good art?
Without understanding the realities of the world you live in how can you speak true and make true art? How can you do that without life experience, without understanding the realities of the world. Pretty prose, flashy covers, and government funding can only take you so far. If you want to affect people then you need to address reality, you need to address truths about our existence.
Again this is not literal reality. You have to fuse your art with the often harsh truths of the world and how it works. You have to put part of your soul in it. Maybe that’s it, maybe that’s the way to summarize what I’m trying to say here. Modern art lacks a soul and it’s across the board. Modern paintings, modern songs, modern poems, modern novels, even modern architecture. They lack soul, they lack essence, they lack the harsh truth.
Creating Good Art
So if you’re an artist, and I think every man should be at least at the amateur level, and you want to take your art to that next level make sure you’re infusing it with truth, beauty, and the human experience. All art is human, understand that. Even if there’s not a single human in the art piece it’s still human. You must infuse it with life experience and truth about the world.
Without it, your art will often ring flat, and that’s something no artist wants.
