Why is mythology so popular in modern art? Visual artists are looking to ancient mythologies as references in their works. MOMA recently had an exhibition called, “The Modern Myth: Drawing,
Mythologies in Modern Times”.

And not just Classical Mythology but Futuristic Ones as well, as invented by the artists and then given a name and storyline.

The enduring appeal of course to modern artists is that they can interpret the myths through their own personal experience. Rather than  confront their reality head-on, which is often conflictual, full of humanities’ sufferings and woes and negativity (now a word synonymous with sin), artists are rejecting  real life as is and creating make belief phantasies of their own choosing, often void of any meaning whatsoever, human or otherwise. At least when using classical mythological symbolism, there was evidence of human longing or traits but with Futuristc mythology there only seems to be a wishful wanting for plastic perfection, a Goddess Xena, with big boobs who wields a mighty sword on those who are less perfect, and makes the world right again. 

The human element of empathy is gone in this vision. Only a tiresome, shallow barbie-like doll of existence, no psychology here, no depth, no understanding of why a human could be negative, or an analysis of society or politics in any way. Paula Prego is a great contemporary artist that most young artists, who aspire to never be, “negative’”, shun because she speaks volumes about society and human relations.

So what is left, something a magazine calls “Beautiful Bizarre”, kitschy, smooth, expressionless doll like figures with a little something meant to spark interest. BORING!

In wondering why young artists are running away from the real, and humane, I thought maybe it is because they are on over-load of information from news journals and social media about how ugly we have made this world. Sometimes I feel the same way when I see Trump’s face, or massive hurricanes drowning people, but I cry then can hopefully carry on with daily existence. But maybe the young people don’t have the stamina or strength anymore as they did not ever have a world that wasn’t portrayed like this. Unlike my generation that had a naively free childhood from all this information age.

Even the rise of popularity of “Mindfullness” has not changed this trend of alien worship, futuristic hero worship and plastic imaging in art…(The AGO is having a big exhibition of “Monsters” soon), all it has managed to accomplish thus far is have people say, no to negativity of any kind here, which basically means don’t disturb me with anything real, I am so stressed I can’t handle anything more…don’t bother relating to me because I am on the computer with my own private thoughts and visions, only pleasant ones of course. We have regressed to infantilism as contemporary artists and it makes me want to cry because it means that nothing will ever change if everyone is detached from reality! 

I am not stoked by this trend!

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“Artist Entrepreneur” is a an oxymoron…if you are real artist you are not an entrepreneur. A business person can be creative but he is not an artist.
Gallery owners and consultants seem to think it is all about them and the artist is only there to pay the rent and give him/her a comission.

It is time artists were acknowledge for creating visuals that help transcend this bleak and brutal world because they communicate with their souls, not yet jaded by the marketplace. Even Jesus threw out the moneychangers from the temples, due to that activity being incompatible with spiritual life. Art should be given a chance to thrive in a space similar to a temple, where spirit and creativity combine to produce an inspiration for the people. Instead it is all about making artists into moneychangers.

And if not, then at least let them be useful as community activists with what they create, so moneychangers in our our society are telling artists what to create, soul be damn! The clinck of coins is music to the ears of all the art administrators in Canada, who are making a living dictating to the artists and bullying them into paths they normally would not go on but for the fact they have to eat.
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A sorry state of affairs I say…when help for artists is conditional on them becoming business tycoons and community developers, with no time for soul searching which is what art is really about. Then when their souls dry up from internal tears over the years what is left? Kitsch of course, what else can they produce in that diminished capacity!

There is no way to escape the natural aging process. Older women have often been accused of witchcraft, especially because of some features that they have due to aging.

These include: red eyes; wrinkled faces; living alone; and maybe even the keeping of pets such as cats, which are said to be animals used by a witch for witchcraft purposes. The media is also to blame since it fuels and perpetuates untruths about women. Even television programs point to the fact that there is something wrong with older women. Taking cartoons for example, one will always get the sense that witchcraft is practiced by old women living alone, making evil spells and potions. Wizards (old men) are on the other hand sweet and powerful beings doing good in the world. Sexually, men are seen as more attractive longer than women. Even the taking of Viagra is no longer perceived as an option but a necessity for older men.

Today getting old is not only a disease, it is a taboo. Aging is a word that conveys fear and a threat of social rejection. An aging body may be perceived as deteriorated, having no social worth. Cosmetic companies and cosmetic surgeons through the media are making millions perpetuating the myth that to be a valuable member of society you have to fight the aging process by buying their products. Aging is increasingly deprived of value, although with a milder slope for men in comparison to women, and for the rich in comparison to the poor. The taboo is therefore associated with social discrimination.
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Aging reminds us of death, the biggest taboo of all, and the older you are the closer to death you are perceived to be in our materialistic society. Which is nonsense, because the fact is that people of all ages die. Our fear of death makes us fearful of aging as well and repulsed by the whole process. Our society sees beauty only of the flesh and does not look beyond, to the beauty of a wise wrinkled face of an elder, ripe with experience, detached humour and wisdom. After all it is the ripe fruit that is juicy and sweet, and not the sour, green unripe fruit of youth.

Someone just said to me. "Who is to judge what is good art.'"

And I responded with, "I think the answer is clear...bonafide artists with education and people who have studied art for a long time...there is a trend now that anybody is an artist and if it pleases someone that is enough...it isn't...art is a profession and should be respected as such...I have 30+ years painting and doing art behind me as well as a degree so I think what i observe might have some value..."

Please note...drawing perfect eyelashes does not make a work great...the eyes need to have life, warmth and light in them.. Adding a tear under a dead eye does not mean your work is showing sorrow. Don't bother copying perfect eyes from photographs, instead make your lines and shapes dance on the canvas.

It was YEARS after my college degree, and graduate studies that I was finally ready to even call myself an artist. I always referred to myself as a "student of the arts". I had such respect for the title of "artist" that it took me many years of intense work and study before I felt I could assume that crown which i held sacred. Many people these days slap that lable to themselves like a 3 cent postage stamp....

People write to me saying art is subjective, meaning what you like....but is that really true? I think not. Take those technically almost correct works done on black velvet of cowboys...some people might call that good art because it appeals to them. It isn't great art however, not even fine art in any sense of the word.
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I feel good art is a combination of talent, perseverence, education and feeling. It has to come from the mind, heart and soul of an artist and connect with the heart, mind and soul of the viewer, touch the emotions in some way. I also feel that art history is part of an artist's education.

Please notice the sensitivity of his pieces. The initial abstract artists (e.g.Kandinsky) were saying volumes with their art...and later like everything else in life that works in cycles, abstract art deteriorated to mad splashes of decorative wallpaper meaningless kitsch...it was easy and sellable.

And now? As a reaction, people are enamoured with photographic realism or poster/cartoon art. They have not realized yet that art is an intuitive, sensitive process of unveiling emotions and deep unconscious thoughts that only that individual artist has access to...not Star Trek or Wonder Woman technically correct with a little spoof on religion added to it...

Having written about art perhaps too many times, I still find myself asking the unknowable question, “what makes good art”?

Yes, I can see it when it is there, the special something that makes my eyes want to linger on a piece of artwork, the unfathomable aura an artwork give off, as if saying, “there is something more here than meets the eye”.
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Yet when my forebrain tries to analyze that something, like a vaporous mist, it simply disappears. Professionals in the art world have written numerous essays and books on what is good art, mostly describing technical abilities of composition, colour, aesthetics, and design. Laymen simply say, it looks so real or I love the colours or some such remark.

None of that is it however, that special something that makes you want to own a painting and live and talk with it for a life time.

Modern art has a language of it’s own, namely a rebellious streak of anti-technical and aesthetical values, exchanging it for shock, creepy, super-wonderous, unreal and often down right nasty and ugly attributes. There is even a Shock Show advertised in one Toronto gallery.

But guess what, there is nothing shocking in our century any longer, perhaps maybe child abuse, bloody violence and war, and even those are mundane fodder for TV addicts, seen over and over again in cop shows and now surgical programs.
 
We as a people have seen it all! 

So what can disturb and awe?

Really only everyday life can, the beauty of it and the possibility of a transcendent way of being, but modern art is too cynical to accept that they have explored all the gamut of conceptual possibilities and might need to return to intuition for answers. Habits die hard. And we have habitually sought out conceptual art for a very long time, and even though we see how ho hum it truly is, without much merit, we are still trying to keep it revived with shock and kitsch. But no one is moved any longer.

Good art is art that touches you in some way intuitively and makes an impact on your soul and feelings, not just your mind, it has that elusive special something that affects your gut into saying AHA, and vibrating in tune with it’s vibrations, like a real Van Gogh, that roots you to the spot and makes you want to take it home and care for it forever.

Twiggy, with her androgynous look, heralded the new fashion of anorexia for women in the sixties. Now "skinny" as a goal for women has been replaced with "strong". Which means women should spend countless hours in the gym or yoga mat instead of counting calories and measuring their food portions. "Strong" is the new "skinny". Strong sounds healthy but isn't if it is driven by a fixation on unachievable standards of muscular and body shapes and sizes. Muscles are not endemic to women, as many artists portrayed in past paintings, namely Rubens and Renoir. Women were valued for their softness and fleshiness. Men had the bulging muscles. Now flesh is seen as abhorrent and women try to rid themselves of it everywhere, except their breasts where they are now enhancing it with bags of saline solutions to mimic natural flesh.

The point is that women are dissatisfied with their looks and body image. The trends may change but the goal is the same, to keep women focussed on what is irrelevant, their looks, instead of their intellect and skills and what they can contribute to society. Many, most women after a long day at work, feel obliged to head for the gym instead of spending time with their loved ones or pursuing something creative and satisfying. Working out can become just as much of a prison as staring into the mindless internet or even more mindless tv.
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My mother at even 87 years of age would not allow herself to enjoy her favourite chocolates. Why? Because she might get fat.

Under the guise of healthy, we push women to buy products and work out to extreme lengths, all to stop the natural progression of aging, which would involve spiritual growth and wisdom.

There is even talk that 60 is the new 40. If you are that age you know damn well that is not true, as there are natural evolutionary processes going on that are diminishing your physical capacities, like it or not. The end result is that no one helps a 60 year old anymore with anything, because they are seen as 40 and capable. So even if your back is killing you, standing in a tram, no 20 year old will give up their seat for you.

Capitalism, based on selling and consuming, can not tolerate wisdom or spirituality, because those attributes might lead you to realize that all that selling and accumulating of "stuff' is senseless. And then where would the corporations be? Minus a few billion...

So as long as this society keeps women focused on the inessential, creating massive muscles and counting carbs, women will never realize their true potential of wisdom and spirituality, true contributions to future generations.

ART & CAPITALISM & TECHNOLOGY

Great art is prophetic and transcends societal values, like a Van Gogh's, that to some extent predicted the spiritual age we are coming into. Conceptual art of the white canvas and lets talk a lot variety, is NOT in that category but probably fits the art for art sakes view. It is not great and history will show that in time our capitalistic technological world produced very little art of lasting value.

I think that capitalism and the rapid growth of technology has bastardized art to the point of no return. Real art is not a trade or craft, which is what capitalism has made it. It is a transcendent quality that even prominent galleries can't often discern, and history will sort it all out. Art has , in the same way religion has, become a trade and not a vocation and as a result, is a non-substantial, void of substance and essence manufactured bit of fluff. If you are selling then you are trying to please the present masses and ergo, not being prophetic in any way. If people don't recognize it they won't buy it.
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“In a period of intense suffering, Van Gogh was somehow able to perceive and represent one of the most supremely difficult concepts nature has ever brought before mankind. But more than a masterwork of art, Van Gogh’s painting turns out to hold astounding clues to understanding some of the most mysterious workings of science. Van Gogh and other Impressionists represented light in a different way than their predecessors, seeming to capture its motion, for instance, across sun-dappled waters, or here in star light that twinkles and melts through milky waves of blue night sky."