Art Is Any Good - 2850 Words

Art unquestionably possesses the power to shock. During the entire course of history viewers have been shocked, distressed, affronted, and categorically outraged by artworks that were religiously, socially or politically thought-provoking. In general, this thought-provoking characteristic is precisely what artists are attempting to achieve in their desire to shock, and this, many would argue, is exactly the purpose of art itself, especially in our contemporary world. Indeed, when engaging with the art of today, the contemporary audience have found themselves compelled to circumnavigate the usual questions such as whether the work is beautiful or aesthetically pleasing or even whether the work of art is any good (Archer, 1997: 3-5). Rather†¦show more content†¦In the process we shall examine the importance of art and the role it plays in society, the factors that make something a work of art and who decides or should decide what a work of art means or signifies; is it the art ist, the audience, the critic or perhaps even history itself? According to Renato Poggioli writing in his The Theory of the Avant-Garde of 1962, â€Å"Like any artistic tradition, no matter how anti-traditional it may be, the avant-garde also has its conventions† (1981: 63). For the most part, such conventions have involved the desire to offend and shock and the methods for achieving such a desire have involved the attempts to ‘transgress boundaries’. Indeed, over the past few decades, ‘being shocking’ has become among the most valued quality of artworks according to both collectors and critics of the visual arts (Harris, 2001). Thus we have witnessed artworks containing a plethora of strange elements such as plastic figures with penises for noses and additions of rotting meat while many themes and techniques have focused on self-exposure, sex and drugs and even bodily mutation. The point, most practicing artists would tell us, is to find a means of disturbing â€Å"smug, complacent and hypocritical† peop le (Rawden-Wilson, 2002: 27). In fact, for many commentators, the greatest outrage of the past century was witnessed at the now infamous exhibition held at the Brooklyn