can someone explain modern art to me?

I recommend this book Seven Days in the Art World :

https://www.amazon.com/Seven-Days-World-Sarah-Thornton/dp/039333712X

It explains how we attach meaning and value to modern art.

But, you probably aren't curious and just trolling.

It's got em

Modern art is like and based off of postmodernism, which is a philosophy that says that nothing has any subjective meaning.

Well, to understand anything with the prefix " modern" you really need to study the development of that movement.

In the case of art, I would say that following art movements from the early 19th century should give you a good overview of where we are now.

Ask these guys. I read an interview with them, they subsequently regret burning £1m as a piece of art.

Modern yeah wrote: can someone explain modern art to me?

I don't claim to know very much about modern art but in literature there is a theory called the death of the artist.

this says, basically, that each member of the audience is free to determine for themselves what a work of art "means" and even whether it has, or is meant to have, meaning.

the "death" referred to in the title is of the intent that the artist had in creating the work in the first place. an author might intend a novel to be about one specific issue, but this theory says that the author's intent dies when the work is made available to the public. so a reader can decide for herself that the novel is really about something else, and neither the reader nor the author are wrong to hold those views and, indeed, any number of other people are free to hold any number of other different views and none of them are wrong. the author's intent is dead as a statement about what the piece represents. any view held by anyone is legitimate, and this theory applies to all forms of art, not just prose.

there is another view that says that if two men produce identical chairs, using identical materials, tools, methods, designs and technologies and one of them made a chair for him to sit on while the other made it because it was a beautiful object, then one of them has made a work of art and the other has made an artifact.

this view says that the artist's intent is the only thing that matters. what the object "is" or how it is perceived are completely irrelevant and no interpretations of the work are permitted.

therefore, because both of these theories have many adherents, who are simultaneously contradicting each other, there is no "explanation" for art that holds for more than a limited sub-set of the audience.

choose your own interpretation.

or none at all.

cheers.

Possibly the best definition of modern art comes from the venerable Frank Zappa:

“The most important thing in art is The Frame. For painting: literally; for other arts: figuratively-- because, without this humble appliance, you can't know where The Art stops and The Real World begins. You have to put a 'box' around it because otherwise, what is that sh*t on the wall?”

I didn't realize that dude on ESPN was also a painter,

I think is an emperor has no clothes situation. This art doesn’t mean anything to anyone but the sophisticated types are too embarrassed they don’t understand the meaning so they act like they get it. Of course everyone else just pretends they get it too so they don’t look stupid. But nobody will break rank and call out this farce. And they’ll spend millions to keep it going. And the so called “artists” are laughing their way to the bank while talented artists struggle.

The emperor’s new clothes wrote:

...while talented artists struggle.

Who do you consider talented artists?

Please tell us... wrote:

The emperor’s new clothes wrote:

...while talented artists struggle.

Who do you consider talented artists?

Serious answer: I don't know, but every once in a while a piece of art affects me. Balance, symmetry/asymmetry, color, shapes, texture, context. All those things can come together to evoke an emotional response.

Does it Confound you.

Does it Anger you.

Does it Challenge you.

Does it Excite you.

Does it Move you.

It is doing its job.

I would also say seeing the art in its real form, not in a google image search has a profound effect.

It doesn't have to be understood in an academic way. To me, that's a cool painting just because I like looking at it. As for why I like looking at it, that's where all the theory and explanations come in. The colors, the arrangement of shapes and lines, etc etc all work together as a visual object. When I look at this visual object, I like it. I find it interesting to look at, and I want to look at it more, and look at it more closely. It makes me feel a certain kind of way.

That's all modern/contemporary art (or art from any time period) has to be, really. Just something that, when you experience it, it makes you feel a certain type of way and makes you want to explore your feelings for it further.

Not me I am just a trump voting country boy that is against socialized medicine, against immigration, and all for raising the deficit!!!!

It just looks a certain way wrote:

It doesn't have to be understood in an academic way. To me, that's a cool painting just because I like looking at it. As for why I like looking at it, that's where all the theory and explanations come in. The colors, the arrangement of shapes and lines, etc etc all work together as a visual object. When I look at this visual object, I like it. I find it interesting to look at, and I want to look at it more, and look at it more closely. It makes me feel a certain kind of way.

That's all modern/contemporary art (or art from any time period) has to be, really. Just something that, when you experience it, it makes you feel a certain type of way and makes you want to explore your feelings for it further.

Well stated! ART IS FOR EVERYONE

I still don't like most things labeled "modern" but a few hours spent forcing myself through this helped me at least know what they were thinking (or not thinking). There are several tangents you can take if the one I linked to doesn't interest you.

https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-history/art-1010

Modern yeah wrote:

can someone explain modern art to me?

What a moronic question.

Can someone explain cinema to me?

Can someone explain books to me?

Can someone explain football to me?

I assume you have completed some duration of schooling. Go learn something.

You sound like a millennial, expecting people to just shower knowledge on you.