Wise Words   From an essay in Illustrator: America  25 Outstanding Portfolios by Brad Holland       Popular Art   In America, the only true popular art form is the movies. Most people consider painting a hobby and literature, schoolwork.     Art School   One of the frequent casualties of higher-education is common sense. Art education is a good example of this. In high school, most kids draw little more than unicorns and superheroes. Then suddenly, in four years of art school, they're supposed to develop an original style. That's something even Rembrandt couldn't have done. So a lot of students wisely spend their four years cultivating gimmicks they can call a style and mastering Artspeak. That means, as professionals, they can say things like, "I do purloined images on Naugahyde" or "These mutilated Barbie Dolls represent feminist praxis in action."     Tradition   There are still some traditionalists, mostly employed by art schools, who continue to paint like the Ashcan School. For years, it's pleased the avant-garde to keep these Amish around to portray the Art Establishment. But for generations, the real Art Establishment has been made up of earth sculptors, body piercers and topless cello players. It's been a long time since a painter of the Ashcan School has even had a prayer.     The Avante-Garde   Over one hundred years ago, some French bohemians decreed that the purpose of art was to shock the middle classes. It may have been a great idea back then. But these days, the middle class aren't paying attention. They're all on Geraldo or Ricki Lake talking about their cross-dressing experiences or having sex with the baby-sitter. It's the cutting edge artists who have to watch in silence and eat their hearts out, complaining about American culture and demanding even more grant money for more cutting edge art. In the future, the spectacle of the middle-class shocking the avant-garde will probably become the textbook definition of Postmodernism.     The Left Brain Doesn't Know What the Right Brain is Doing   It's my guess that those cutting-edge artists who attack tradition secretly believe tradition will survive to enshrine them as the wild and crazy geniuses who destroyed it.     "Sometimes you Gotta Break the Rules"   One of the things that not enough people appreciate about modern art is that its philosophy can be summed up as a Burger King commerical.     Craftsmanship   In traditional art, craftsmen worked within certain conventions. Occasionally, these conventions would be redefined by acts of genius. In modern art, everybody has to redefine art all the time. This might have made another Renaissance if suddenly there had been an explosion of geniuses in the world. But since genius is more rare than ego, Postmodern art is destined to be narcissitic.     Political Art   Political art expresses the cliches you agree with unlike propaganda, which expresses the cliches you don't.       The Counter-Culture   Twenty-five years ago, I was part of the hippie press. Like a lot of kids back then, I believed that everything personal was political. In one way, my generation succeeded. We married art to politics. At first, this was good. It brought the compassion of art to public debate. But increasingly as artists exploit political themes to call attention to their superior morality, I've concluded that we misjudged the long-term risks. Namely, that they might produce a community of artist with no more integrity than politicians.       Next Page   Return To Main Page