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comment by mk
mk  ·  4758 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Every artist is willing to suffer... why are so few prepared to learn to draw?’
‘Beauty’ is totally a four-letter word these days. I love that quote from Banksy: ‘Every artist is willing to suffer for their work. So why are so few prepared to learn how to draw?’ So much of contemporary art seems to think that aesthetic beauty is incompatible with political awareness or intellectual rigor or progressive thinking, just like in China during the Cultural Revolution.

Amen.

Everything can be art, but just being 'art' doesn't give something value. Great art comes from a devotion to process and technique. Unfortunately, that doesn't sell as well as the ubiquitous canned reactionary crap that pretends to be controversial. There is a fashionable pop art gallery nearby where I work. If I went there and removed every piece that was a commentary on sex, violence, or commericalization, the gallery would be empty. Give me a piece that talks about innocence. Give me a piece that talks about consciousness, or love, or loss.

No. Paint Alice in Wonderland eating a steak, or a baby doll with an M16, or maybe a bunch of manga chicks at a cocktail party, and you're good to go.