Tourist Guide

Pointless Shapes

I have always been rather critical of modern art. In my opinion, drawings of angled lines and shapes of different color or splatters of random paint on a canvas discredit true art from all around the world, which actually requires some sort of talent and devotion, and depicts situations or places which people can closely identify with or have some sort of personal relation to. In my opinion, for art to be successful, it must elicit some sort of emotional response. Instead, much of the works considered as modern art leave me feeling apathetic. The piece entitled “Amorpha: Fugue in Two Colors” is an example of such art. According to the description, the artist, Frantisek Kupka, painted this picture to show that rhythmic progressions of colors in a specific, organized fashion reflect the forces present in our universe. I think that it is naïve and even foolish for an artist to assume that he can capture the incredible nature of our mysterious universe with such a simple piece of art, if it can even be called that. I wonder if anyone would ever interpret this painting the way the author did as he was drawing it. If not, and the painting is interpreted completely differently by every other person, then it should not be considered art. I understand people who try to experiment with different techniques, even if unsuccessfully, in order to enrich the art of painting, but in my eyes, this piece can only serve two legitimate purposes. It should either show potential painters exactly what they should not pursue as an artist or be burned to keep someone warm in the cold winter months in New York.