The new prophets speak... but the song remains the same
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| LACMA, California, Canon 60d, 100mm Carl Zeiss |
I really don’t know what this is but the forms intrigued me. Is this art? It must be. It is displayed in LACMA. I often wonder who decides which art are worth displaying in museums. What are the criteria? I suspect that part has to do with the cult of personality. Just because it’s a Picasso or a Mondrian, then it must be good. But I wonder what the artists thought about their work. I sense that maybe it doesn’t matter. Sometimes, I suspect it is all driven by money. My friend once told me that one way to find out why things happen is to follow the money. I am not that smart to comprehend all these things.
Experts are often heard to say that it’s art because they said so. How does one become an expert? Schooling? Training. Or does one get special revelation from the gods of confusion? The experts are the elites in our world. They seem to know all the answers. I think elites believe themselves to have special insights to certain things that mere mortals are not able to comprehend. Lofty things like arts, economics and science. Nobody else understand things better than them. Unwittingly, they proclaim themselves as the new prophets. Somehow, this is akin to a new form of Gnostics, who hold the power to interpret strange things.
I don’t know. I think at the end of the day, one will have to walk away and either agree or disagree whether such things are worthy of being called art. As I told my wife while commenting on one famous artwork, "I think our dog can do better than that." Heh.
Featured Comment by Moses: Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.” (Exodus 32:1-5)
Featured Comment by Moses: Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.” (Exodus 32:1-5)
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