Not Everyone Likes Contemporary Art

I loved the conversations we started at the beginning of class about contemporary art, the sharing of new ideas, and people who are not supporters of contemporary art.

We began with Nude Descending a Staircase by Marcel Duchamp. He took that painting to a contemporary art exhibition in Paris in 1911 and it was rejected for not being normalized enough. They rejected it because "nudes aren't supposed to descend staircases, they're supposed to be laying down." Which kind of defeats the purpose of the whole idea of "new" art and "contemporary" art.

He then took it to an exhibition in NYC 2 years later and the work had such mixed reviews that literal riots started in the streets. Yes, riots are bad. People can get hurt, and many negative things can come out of riots, but the idea that a piece of new artwork was so different that it caused a literal uproar for a riot is exactly why I personally believe art should be created.

Contemporary art is not created to please everyone, it is to shock everyone. In our first class we talked about how collectors are always looking for something new that no one has ever seen before, and that’s what these contemporary artists are doing. They are creating pieces of artwork that no one has ever seen before. Art starts conversations. Contemporary art starts conversations. Political art starts conversations. Without these artworks, some people would not have a voice. And in today's political climate everyone needs to have a voice.