A father and child stand in front of a pile of candy at some famous art museum. The child snatches a piece before immediately running off to the next room, dragging her bewildered father along as he shakes his head, muttering about the pitiful loss of \u201ctrue art\u201d these days. Behind them, a young man approaches the corner. He stares at the mountain of candy a moment, seemingly trying to figure out its meaning. After a few moments, he begins to quietly weep. <\/p>\n
Contemporary art is probably the most divisive art of our time: those who hate it truly despise it while those who love it won\u2019t hesitate to mansplain it. Art purposefully evokes paradoxical feelings \u2013 disturbing yet arousing, awe-inspiring yet terrifying, beautiful yet tragic. No piece will ever satisfy every person who comes across it. But why is there such a vehement dislike for contemporary art? Is It really as simple as not understanding it, or are there deeper reasons behind these feelings?<\/p>\n
There are certainly psychological and sociological explanations for this phenomenon, however, I choose to take a philosophical approach by examining the philosophy of several negative emotions elicited by contemporary art. How are emotions impacting our perceptions of contemporary art, and why are they so often negative? I will argue the importance of two key emotions and why they are unwarranted: (1) anger and (2) envy.<\/p>\n
ANGER<\/p>\n
Anger is often the first emotion contemporary art naysayers articulate. \u201cI can\u2019t believe this is up here\u201d, \u201cThis looks like something I could do, this is stupid\u201d. There\u2019s a sense of frustration because the art doesn\u2019t seem to deserve to be on display and this particular sort of art is judged inferior to other, more \u201cworthy\u201d pieces, whatever those may subjectively be. Naysayers commonly argue that contemporary art is objectively either not art or not good enough to be in a museum. How, after all, could a giant orange canvas rationally be hung next to Starry Night? The comparison is almost laughable. But I won\u2019t dive into the nuances of the subjectivity of art. Rather, I argue that even making a judgment that one form of art is \u201cbetter\u201d or \u201cworse\u201d than another stems from anger, and anger in this context is not right.<\/p>\n
Solomon, in his book True to our Feelings, describes anger as an engagement with the world that \u201cis a literally judgemental or magisterial emotion. The offended subject turns the tables on the offender [casting] him- or herself in the superior role of judge and jury […] in anger, the other is put on trial.\u201d (Solomon, 24) The beholder sees a piece of art and, believing it inferior to their personal standard of \u201cgood\u201d, immediately places themself above the piece, the artist, and sometimes even the museum. In this subconscious courtroom, they rule against the art and this judgment manifests as anger at its place in the public eye.<\/p>\n
However, anger can also be warranted. It is even an Aristotelian virtue, a disposition that can be had in the right amount, at the right time, under the right circumstances, and for the right reasons. It is difficult (but not impossible) to argue that anger at contemporary art is wrong because unless it is some malicious, enduring sort of anger that causes the naysayer to lash out against the artist, it effects little real-life harm. The anger facing contemporary art is almost always just simple naysaying. But that doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s right. <\/p>\n
Angry naysayers are often extremely vocal. They make audible noises of disgust and turn up their noses as they walk past offending canvases and write blog posts about the modern downfall of art simply because they, personally, dislike it. This anger cannot possibly be the right reasons nor the right amount, and if it isn\u2019t right in every way it isn\u2019t virtuous. So not only is the negative attitude towards contemporary art borne out of anger, it is unwarranted anger. <\/p>\n
ENVY<\/p>\n
However, some psychologists argue that anger is a secondary emotion, one that is always backed by some primary emotion that causes it. Assuming that this is true, I argue that envy is the primary cause of this anger. Envy, as Solomon puts it, involves a \u201cradical diminution of self-esteem\u201d, the key being that \u201c[one does] not have anything like a right or a claim to the possession or talent or honor [being envied]\u201d. (Solomon 102) In other words, envy entails low self-esteem that drives a person to desire something that they not only cannot have but don\u2019t deserve. It is often (but not always) malicious due to a \u201cmalevolent attitude toward the envied person.\u201d (Solomon 103) Let us revisit the naysayer statements from earlier. There exists the common belief that (1) the contemporary art does not deserve to be hung because it isn\u2019t \u201cgood\u201d enough and (2) given that it is hung, the viewer deserves it just as much as the artist because they could also do it. This runs into \u201cjealousy\u201d territory at first glance, but the key here is that most viewers could not really create contemporary art and enter it into a famous museum \u2013 they lack the skill, connections, and money to do so. But they desire it nonetheless because, now that this artist has it so seemingly easily, they want it too.<\/p>\n
This envy is the primary emotion behind anger. Envy for the artist\u2019s recognition and placement causes the need for a judgment on the validity of the art. But the greatest pitfall of envy lies in its effect on the envier. It is a helpless and fruitless pursuit that causes one to \u201cignore or discount what one already has [and] lead bitter lives because of what they do not have.\u201d (Solomon 103) This creates no progress in anything and only ends up damaging the self.<\/p>\n
CONCLUSION<\/p>\n
Anger, arising out of envy, is the cause behind an acute hatred of contemporary art. The issue is not within the art itself or the interpretations of it; rather, it is the people’s emotional reactions to it. However, is the purpose of art not to elicit these strong, divisive reactions? Is the nature of art not to create intense, contradicting emotions? Is the pile of candy not a childlike joy to some, but a tragic metaphor to others? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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