Myths about minimalistic art
Art is the subject of many memes as it is. When you add the adjective "minimalistic" to it, the internet kids can go ballistic. To some it's a sarcastic yet loving exaggeration of actual facts about this art form, to others it is deemed as an insult to art. The latter sentiment has brought about a lot of misconceptions about what minimalism actually means. Before getting into some popular myths about minimalistic art, here's a brief history on this popular and relative new form of art.
Minimalist art follows the motto "what you see is what you see". Its journey began in the early 1960's, with the core idea of art should not refer to anything other than itself. The minimalist artist is meant to be objective, unexpressive. It was art for the sake of art. The intention is to give the viewer a solely visual response, and eliminate that troublesome gimmick of finding the "inner meaning". It's basically the hipster in the population of artistic genres.
So then, it shouldn't be hard to see why we'll have an abundance of myths about this right? Here's some:
1. ARTISTS WHO ARE LAZY DO MINIMALISM
Art for starters is not about doing anything so intricate and so ostentatious that people go "whoa" every time they see it. It was and always will be about self-expression. Any form of art has always reflected the society and economy as well as the fashion of the time it exists in. Minimalistic art represents the modern lifestyle and a counter perspective to art making you feel things. It still takes technical knowledge and a lot of conceptual skills to come up with something original and intriguing.
2. IT IS EASIER TO UNDERSTAND SO IT IS EASIER TO SELL
If you think you can paint a blue square in a piece of canvas and it will sell for a million dollars, there is a very small chance it could actually happen. If you can feel moved by an image, enough so it instigate emotions that are individual to you, why not a blue square in a blank canvas? But the truth is, you need a lot of knowledge on the psychology behind stimuli of colours or textures or shapes to come up with a concept that could potentially move a lot of people.
3. ONLY RICH PEOPLE LIKE MINIMALISM
A term we often associate rich people with is "pretentious". But that is the exact establishment that the minimalist tries to defy through his work. It even reflects in the concept of minimalistic living. But it can't be denied that people pay a lot of money to buy this kind of artworks and there could be a very simple logic to that. It is usually easy on the eyes, which means it's calming. In the fast paced life of the average urban citizen, it shouldn't be surprising to find people opting for art that doesn't require a lot of thought to enjoy.
This should at least get you thinking about how much you CAN hate minimalism. Unless you want to be the rebel that defies the idea of defying extravagance. In that case, you're probably about to start an art movement too.
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