Is art dead? As someone who enjoys art, I think so. There have been so many artists before, so how could it be dead now? From Leonardo Davinci and Van Gogh, to Salvador Dali, Hokusai, and my personal favorite, Frida Kahlo. All of these people have made art, along with many more people. Andy Warhol says, “Everything has its beauty, but not everyone sees it.” I personally disagree. Sometimes, things are just things, poor, meaningless things.
Imagine a plastic red cube, solid all the way through. How is this art? A backstory, a process, a person’s life? No, it was made in a sweatshop in China, sent to America on a giant boat, almost stolen by pirates, and arrived in America. Once your cube arrives in America, the boat is checked, and then your cube is sent off on a train and arrives at a distribution center. Once the cube arrives in a distribution center, it is sent off to stores, conglomerates, and other distributors. Then you buy it, go home, and set it on a shelf. People can say that it’s art, “A story of an Asian red cube that almost gets kidnapped by pirates and gets saved by an American hero.” But that is not really what happened; it may have, but even if it did, then that is not art. The closest thing that it is to art is an oil painting where the canvas is the ocean, and the brush is the boat.
Before we fully answer the question, let’s look through history.
At least 45,500 years ago, a person’s hand-painted pigs on a cave wall, and it may be the oldest art ever. 1880-1896 is post-impressionism, 1920-1930 is surrealism, 1940 is abstract impressionism, 1950-1960 is pop art. This is a watered-down version of the timeline, but the timeline is not the most important part of this story.
With the economy and recent events, it would be a great time to make art. However, it is not being done. With photos, prices, and documents, there is no reason to make art. Art nowadays is just made for pleasure, a hobby, a project. There is nothing wrong with art being dead as long as it is still enjoyable. Art may be dead, but at least it’s not gone.
