Nov 18 2012
Modern Art is Whatever You Make It
I often look at modern art and wonder why I can’t produce the same piece to be hanging on the museum wall. Well, I guess perhaps I can… I’ll explain myself.
I enjoy marveling (longingly) at masterpieces that I know I could never create. Pieces of art with intricate detail, pieces that took the artist years to finish. Well, looking at Edward Munch’s scream made me realize that there’s another aspect of art that’s important. And maybe that other aspect is something I can put into my own art.
A piece like “The Scream” says so much, has so much character. Perhaps the artist was expressing how he felt
towards nature or towards life. Perhaps this scream was stifled for so many years and he finally let it out. The possibilities are endless. The curator at MOMA pointed out that Munch used pastels rather than oil, which definitely effects the expression of the scream itself. The pastel gives the piece a rough feel, instead of the smoothness of oil on canvas. And the wavy lines of the pastel kind of create an image of the scream filling up the whole sky, as if it has a ripple effect. The interpretations for this are also infinite.
I think there is in modern art an extra level of expression. It’s an expression of the everyday, rather than the often lofty ideas and messages of the previous art genres. It’s the expression of the artist, speaking through the art he/she creates. Everyone can create pieces of art; everyone can put feeling and character into that art. Even if the art doesn’t hang on a famous museum wall, it’ll hang on the wall of your own personal museum – whether that’s your magnetic refrigerator or your bedroom wall.
I enjoy marveling (longingly) at masterpieces that I know I could never create. Pieces of art with intricate detail, pieces that took the artist years to finish. Well, looking at Edward Munch’s scream made me realize that there’s another aspect of art that’s important. And maybe that other aspect is something I can put into my own art.
A piece like “The Scream” says so much, has so much character. Perhaps the artist was expressing how he felt
towards nature or towards life. Perhaps this scream was stifled for so many years and he finally let it out. The possibilities are endless. The curator at MOMA pointed out that Munch used pastels rather than oil, which definitely effects the expression of the scream itself. The pastel gives the piece a rough feel, instead of the smoothness of oil on canvas. And the wavy lines of the pastel kind of create an image of the scream filling up the whole sky, as if it has a ripple effect. The interpretations for this are also infinite.I think there is in modern art an extra level of expression. It’s an expression of the everyday, rather than the often lofty ideas and messages of the previous art genres. It’s the expression of the artist, speaking through the art he/she creates. Everyone can create pieces of art; everyone can put feeling and character into that art. Even if the art doesn’t hang on a famous museum wall, it’ll hang on the wall of your own personal museum – whether that’s your magnetic refrigerator or your bedroom wall.
Your description of the painting is so detailed and informative. I love reading about pieces of art so I can gather more details about the work itself. I also like your interpretation of modern art, that it is an expression of an everyday event through a beautiful piece of work. This we can all do – we are all artists!