Dear MoMA,
The Museum of Modern art is a fantastic cultural outlet. It brings up and coming art forms to the forefront and displays some of the best work. Although all of this art is being displayed for the public, one concern of mine is that it cannot be appreciated. The efforts to enhance our culture can be overlooked.
The MoMA does a good job at displaying lots of art; however, the modern and often abstract art displayed cannot be understood. Personally, I cannot understand, for example, a simple black rectangle. I don’t know why it has to be displayed in a selective museum that carefully curates each exhibit. I know that this is due to my naivety. An artist would not be praised for the mere simplicity of a rectangle. Any person can make the same outcome. Although I strive to understand, no matter how long I stare at the same piece of artwork I can only see so much. I will perhaps never fully understand certain artwork. Although artwork is to be interpreted, I cannot interpret a solid shape; that is all I see. I know this is not the artist’s fault, but at the same time I want to appreciate their works.
A resolution that I propose is a simple explanation, or discussion. Often times art pieces will have a short blurb, but this can be limited to the artist’s name, date and artwork name. Particularly abstract pieces need a more detailed breakdown. This explanation could consist of the artist’s mindset or reasoning when creating the piece. This is very easy to implement with the technology of the modern age. If museums do not want to have physical plaque, they can publish the information on a website or app. Essentially, this would be costless since most museums already have a website. With this knowledge, I would be able to appreciate the artwork and value. I would be admiring it for its meaning, not for the fact that it is displayed in a prestigious museum. This would open the museum to the common people, those who do not study art. The populous would be able to respect the artist and his or her work, rather than ignore, or even mock it.
Sincerely,
Dylan Senkiw
