Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Art as Religion?
Sarah Thornton, an art historian and sociologist, writes in Seven Days in the Art World that contemporary art has become a kind of alternative religion for atheists. She adds, "Moreover, just as churches and other ritualistic places serve a social function, so art events generate a sense of community around shared interests." Another convivium! The religious approach to art, I have sometimes thought, leads to the intensity of feeling that art organizations seem to generate. Differences of opinion become moral issues, so, apropos of Jim Leach's point quoted in another post on this blog, opponents are "immoral."
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As one who lives 20 minutes from one of America's most publicized contemporary art centers, Marfa, Texas, I would certainly agree with Sarah Thornton that "art events generate a sense of community around shared interests," but I am inclined to think that those interests are financial and not religious. The contemporary art world is about creativity but it is also about dealers, money,investment potential, and the prestige conferred by ownership. The only thing religious about it is that the morals of many of the dealers, collectors, and curators resemble those of the Borgia popes.
ReplyDeleteLonn Taylor
Fort Davis, Texas
Artists and priests have to rely on babbble and faith to convince the believers that there is some "there" there. The artists have the tougher task because they cannot invoke an omnipotent and vengeful god. Although I cannot comment on the emotions of artists in assembly, I can vote as an art consumer that "art is what sells," or as I saw scrawled on a DC wall, "art is what you can get away with." If artists feel better in assembly, I certainly wouldn't begrudge them their pleasure, but I don't hear any of their vibes spilling out into the general world.
ReplyDeleteMy observation on the intensity of feeling you mention is that it comes from the eccentric nature, both real and affected, of many artists. --Phen
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