Postmodern Means Ugly
by Amelia Hoskins · Published · Updated
'The Artist' by the English statesman, gentleman and poet, Sir Walter Raleigh 1552 - 1618
Walter Raleigh's words could be applied today!
We cannot know what exact standards Raleigh is decrying, maybe just amateur quality, but his words could be used today of many post modern artists and others who make 'art' with no resonance or poetic meaning, often with little skill, and sometimes with only a focus on technique rather than meaning. The gallery featured in the poem may have some interesting metallic techniques, but the circus figures are an appalling mass of lumps that a child could do better.
If an artist is to represent humans, they need to give them some life like resonance. The rot probably set in during the 1980-90s, with artists' grants and the Saatchi Gallery in the years of Damien Hirst's pickled cows in formaldehyde, following his enormous success with splash paintings from spinning paint tins. there is nothing resonant about a dead cow preserved.
Tracey Emin - Turner Prize nominated 'Unmade Bed'
Example of self obsessed 'art', recording of one's own life details. Image from 2008 retrospective. Emin is now part of the British Establishment (proof of the rot).