Modern art is revered by some, and misunderstood by others. This point is amply illustrated in the New York Times online article Is It Art? Eyeglasses on Museum Floor Began as Teenagers’ Prank (May 30, 2016.) Two high school students decided to pull a prank by leaving a pair of designer eyeglasses on the floor of a museum they were visiting, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. The pair then stood back and watched, and were amused to see several visitors looking at, and photographing, the fake exhibit. This experiment gives rise the question, what constitutes modern art? The students were inspired by another instalment that they saw at the museum, of two soft toys sitting atop a blanket. They were confused as to why this was considered ‘art’.
Art that was produced in the Renaissance period is a more obvious construction of what art is – paintings by geniuses such as da Vinci are marvels of aesthetic beauty. The time and talent that it took to produce such work were undoubted then, and now. The subject matter of many paintings during this period were religious. Modern art, however, is different. Rather than being created simply for beauty’s sake, modern art is designed to be thought-provoking, and is therefore open to interpretation. Experimentation is a feature of modern art. Therefore, the glasses on the floor of the museum could be considered an example of modern art. The fake exhibit was thought provoking; viewers were most likely wondering what the meaning was, and most likely came up with several ideas. Given that the fake exhibit was an experiment by the two students, this also makes it possible that the glasses are an example of modern art.
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"Modern Art News Essay".
This article gives rise to the question, who defines modern art? There are so many different movements within the modern art movement, which makes it difficult to establish who precisely defines it. The obvious answer to this question is the artists themselves define it. Beginning as early as the 19th century, modern art really began to take off it the early 20th century when artists such as Picasso began the Cubist art movement. Other modern art movements at that time included Fauvism and Expressionism. These movements began in Europe, and their ideas spread to the U.S. in 1913. America went on to become a leading nation of modern art after World War II, with artists such as Andy Warhol and Jackson Pollock coming up with their own unique styles of art, and again making people question what constitutes art. The galleries and museums which show art are also influential in defining what modern art is.
Given that modern art is all about experimentation, then perhaps the students’ eyeglasses on the floor can be considered an example of modern art. Their experiment is certainly thought-provoking in that, it makes us consider what defines modern art. Visitors to the museum clearly thought that the glasses were art, given that they stopped to look at them, with some visitors even going so far as to photograph them. The two students had made earlier attempts to attract peoples’ attention by leaving a jacket, and then a baseball cap, on the floor, neither of which attracted attention. So why were the glasses successful when the other items were not?
What one person considers art, another may not. The fact that the two students were inspired by seeing something as simple as stuffed animals on a blanket, and fooled visitors to the museum, should make us question this more closely. Just because something appears in a museum, perhaps this does not truly make it art; rather, it is simply the opinion of the artists and the curators who support them by showing their exhibits.
