Each artist creates to his/her own taste, of course, and there's nothing wrong with that. I'm all for freedom of expression, and the more people who make art for their own enjoyment, the better. The problem is the spirit in which most mainstream art has been made since the 1970s. It's no longer being done in the spirit of play, purely for spontaneous pleasure, or for serious artistic reasons that satisfy and uplift the soul in its search for truth, but rather Hollywood movies, bestselling books and pop music are churned out in staggering numbers in order to make a buck. Commercialism is the dominant spirit of the art world today. Market values rule. And that's very bad for the culture.
Sunday, September 18, 2016
America's Cultural Golden Age Is Over
American culture has had its fifty-year Golden Age (1920-1970)
and now it is in a rapid decline. Market values have opened the sluice to a flood of mediocrity that gushes forth with a reckless ferocity. Beauty and truth are being shoved aside by the banal, the freakish and the vulgar. This is nothing less than cultural bullying in the name of progress. There
are no longer any criteria for judging what is worthwhile and what isn’t. All that matters is what sells. There
are no values for separating good art from trash art, and this trend shows no
signs of slowing down.
Each artist creates to his/her own taste, of course, and there's nothing wrong with that. I'm all for freedom of expression, and the more people who make art for their own enjoyment, the better. The problem is the spirit in which most mainstream art has been made since the 1970s. It's no longer being done in the spirit of play, purely for spontaneous pleasure, or for serious artistic reasons that satisfy and uplift the soul in its search for truth, but rather Hollywood movies, bestselling books and pop music are churned out in staggering numbers in order to make a buck. Commercialism is the dominant spirit of the art world today. Market values rule. And that's very bad for the culture.
Each artist creates to his/her own taste, of course, and there's nothing wrong with that. I'm all for freedom of expression, and the more people who make art for their own enjoyment, the better. The problem is the spirit in which most mainstream art has been made since the 1970s. It's no longer being done in the spirit of play, purely for spontaneous pleasure, or for serious artistic reasons that satisfy and uplift the soul in its search for truth, but rather Hollywood movies, bestselling books and pop music are churned out in staggering numbers in order to make a buck. Commercialism is the dominant spirit of the art world today. Market values rule. And that's very bad for the culture.
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