Bianca DeLaRosa J. Atkins Art Appreciation 160 October 17, 2015 On Matters of Beauty: From Classicism to Contemporary There was a time when art and beauty seemed to be ideas that were nearly synonymous, or at the very least, things that were inseparable. In the documentary Beauty Matters, Philosopher Roger Scruton painstakingly dismantled modern notions and discussed the tendencies of modern and contemporary artists to desecrate the foundations of beauty and spirituality that had historically given light into the harsh existence of our mortal realm. For discussion I have chosen three examples of the most hideous art from the documentary and three pieces of art containing almost ethereal beauty. Of the hideous …show more content…
A Thousand Years measures 81.7 by 157.5 by 84.4 inches. Another atrocious piece is the 1961 piece entitled Artists Shit, consisting of 90 cans, each of what is presumably 30 grams of fecal matter expelled from the artist with each can measuring 4.8 by 6.5 cm that has a label that proclaims it to be "Artist 's shit, Contents 30 gr. net, Freshly Preserved, Produced and Tinned in May 1961". The final entry into the horror-show is the film entitled simply, Sick Film. Sick Film is a 2006 production by Martin Creed shot on 35 mm color film running at 21 minutes which depicts people vomiting on a white floor on film. Why are these examples so disturbing to me? Roger Scruton believes that art has been corrupted, polluted, kitschified; I agree, and also believe that many artists lack respect for tradition and eschew beauty in a cynical fashion. One work of art from the film that I did not see listed was the song from the video, I did not catch the title but in lieu of the actual title for my purposes here I will call it the Beautiful Pieta Song, sung by Catherine Bott and James Bowman in the film. The song is beautiful in a way that surpasses extraordinary, though you hear the song with your ears, a clarity of the spirit is achieved merely through the act of hearing those clear …show more content…
Roger Scruton believes that art is devolving; it is evident in the lack of skill employed by many artists, the commercialization of art, the kitsch of it all. From refrigerator magnet David 's to Piss Christ, we have taken the spiritual, the connection to elevated realms and made them profane and despised and discarded. I believe beauty has not quite devolved, but it has lost it 's place of prominence to cynical views of the world; our society is gritty and fast-paced, with the advent of modern photography, the ugly sordid hovels of the human soul were always destined to be on display. Have we degraded, rather than it just being our art that has taken a devolutionary turn? Are we not as humans responsible for the corruption of art; art which is merely a reflection of our society? Is it wrong for me to find a cozy, quaint though awe inspiring sense of beauty in a Thomas Kincaid chocolate box? Or to fall in love with an Alexis Bueno Zodiac Study print? I do not believe that art has devolved, but perhaps Art Critics have allowed themselves to become disenchanted with beauty. Perhaps that needs to change. There are many visual artists that do not seem compelled to provide beauty or a deeper