Trying to Make Sense of Modern Art

We had another discussion in art class this week about Modern Art. Who defines it and most of all, why are some absurd works labeled genius by art scholars.

Two works come to mind, the Crucifix in urine and the Virgin Mary painted in feces.

My first thoughts were dear God why? What would possess a person to do something like this ?....I really do want to understand Modern Art, but stuff like this is just confusing and difficult to comprehend.

So I sat down and put some thought into this one, as it would have been narrow minded of me to just rant on about how much I hate them. So without Googling any answers I’ll start with what I said when I first viewed them. “Dear God why! and What would possess a person to do something like this !?”

Well......are they making a mockery of my religion?..are they mad at God...did they loose there faith... are they cursing at God ? What would possess someone to curse God.....Have I ever cursed God for anything ? Let me think about that for a moment. If I did I certainly didn’t mean it.

I’m sure there are plenty of people out there who hit there thumb with a hammer by accident and had some choice words for God. I can’t be the only one. Of course we don’t really mean what we say.......still sometimes the pain pushes those curse words out.

Could that be what’s going on here? An expression of pain? Pain deeper then that smashed thumb, deeper then a broken heart piercing the very soul and shattering all faith. What king of hammer can shatter a persons faith?

You only have to turn on the news for a few moments so see all the suffering in the world. Murder, rape , child molestation, war, cancer, aids...it just doesn’t end. How can God allow all these horrible things to happen, it makes no sense.

So as these horrible cruelties of life unfold unto us all. I have seen that for some people as well as myself, our faith in God deepens. We put our trust into God to help us through our grief and to help us live with the sorrow.

While others are stripped of there faith and as crudely as the words are spoken after the hammer strikes the thumb, they curse God and abandon religion as they feel that they too have been abandoned.

No expensive oil paints on fine linen could support the raw emotion of the loss of a child, parent, sibling or dear friend........ the materials had to be as crude, shocking and repulsively imaginable to put the viewer into that precise moment when the heart is broken and the faith shattered. So in closing I’ll ponder these two quotes by Ellen Key and Louis Kronenberger and continue to try my best to view Modern Art as open mindedly as I can. I may not always like what I see, but I do want to understand and respect the artists intent.

The more horrifying this world becomes, the more art becomes abstract.
Ellen Key

In art there are tears that lie too deep for thought.
Louis Kronenberger