Is Modern Art Bullshit?

Posted on by Prie

When you look at the above painting, what do you see?
An empty canvas or just a shade of white paint?
What if I told you that this sold for twenty million dollars?
But Prie, even I could do that. I don’t get modern art. Rich people spending millions on stupid things *shaking your head*.

Yes. You may argue that you, too, can do that but you didn’t. Sorry for being so rude but at least let me explain. And don’t worry, I am not going to act like some pretentious art curator giving you technical bullshit making you feel inferior. I, too, hated such paintings that they call art till a few years back.

And as always I’ll make my case using the way I know best, references from a web series. Let me tell you a small story about a man and a white painting from the show Daredevil.

There was once a rich villain named Wilson Fisk. He killed people mercilessly and did awful things but you gotta admit that the man got style. In an episode, he visited an art gallery and kept staring at a white painting, a minimalistic piece (modern art), in a room full of abstract art (full of colours, as God intended). A beautiful woman comes up to him and asks him how does the painting makes him feel. She was expecting a juvenile response about why they charged so much for gradations of white. Instead, Wilson replies that it makes him feel alone.

Lesson 1 – When you look at abstractionist art, there’s a lot going on. You can relate to it as it is expressive and emotional. It has various interpretations that is why it is liked by so many people. When it comes to minimalism, you have to put in a lot of effort but it is more rewarding in the end. Your analysis of a painting might be unique and you feel a sort of personal attachment to it. Some people even take pride that the conclusion they came upon is one of a kind.

When you look at modern art, you are looking at a separate entity whose artist or his/her skills doesn’t matter. It’s all about the idea of an art and your feelings.

Wilson bought the painting. A few episodes later, he wakes up after a nightmare and looks at the painting in a sort of desperate need for calm. In that moment, we see a close up shot of the painting and minute details on the canvas catches our attention.

Lesson 2 – It’s not just plain white paint on an empty canvas. There are lines, textures, patterns and different shades of white that look all the same from a distance. It’s not just a smooth layer of paint but true perfection in the form of little imperfections. All you gotta do is look closely.

A flashback in shown in which Wilson is a boy and his father tells him to stare at a white wall as a punishment, and think about what it means to be a man. His father then proceeds to beat his mother. Wilson tries to focus on the wall whose texture is similar to the painting that he had bought. He ultimately gets up and kills his father. After which he hugs his mother and the camera zooms out focussing on the two of them in front of the wall, the one time he wasn’t alone.

Lesson 3 – Minimalistic art resonates with a person in unexpected ways. Even if all you feel is anger or confusion after seeing a white painting, it still means that the art has succeeded in provoking an emotion. It does not have a huge following and made for the likes of a few but even if one of them turns out to be rich then the artist’s all set.

When Daredevil finally caught him and he is sitting in his prison cell, staring at the wall (almost a similar texture to the painting), he feels alone all over again and thus we’ve come full circle.

In the end, modern art seeks to restore order and simplicity pointing out that not everything is a beautiful mess waiting to be discovered.

What you see is what you see.

**I still think that abstract art is better of the two but modern art is not bullshit.**

Paradoxical Love

Posted on by Prie

“I realize now that I’m attracted to you for the same reason I can’t be with you. You can’t change and I have no problem with that but it clearly means, I have a problem with myself. I know how it goes with us, I lose who I am and become a part of you. As in a strange way you’re better at what I do without even trying.”

Oh, how many times I wanted to scream the name of a person whenever I read these lines.

Continuing my previous post on Rick And Morty, this counts as my second favourite monologue piece written in the show. Every word hits home.

People who have no idea of the context behind these lines interpret the above in different ways and each of those explanations are equally true. That’s the beauty of the show.

The starting line is so powerful, creating a paradox in itself. For better or worse, you can’t change but still I find myself dreaming about you. I am constantly amused by how you are better than me at everything and how much I want to be like you, to do what you want me to do. But this leads me down a dangerous rabbit hole. For soon I start losing my ability to make my own decisions without your voice in my head instructing me to do otherwise.

I love you but I’m unhappy with you for you have to realize how selfish you are at times. I have followed you deep into your world and if I don’t leave now, I never will.

It’s A Matter Of Life And Death

Posted on by Prie

“On the walls of my cupboard, lie the faces of various bands and some iconic lyrics. But among these musical sensations hangs an odd quote by Morty ‘Come watch TV‘, thereby restoring balance in my universe.”

I am a huge Rick And Morty geek. For those of you who don’t know about this genius of a show, it’s an animated sci-fi sitcom. But don’t be too quick to judge this show as yet another kid-friendly animation. Although the show is a comedy in the broad genre, it’s dark. Rick And Morty is a whole other world. Every episode questions my basic understanding of what’s right and what’s wrong.

I do not claim to comprehend every line and every word because deciphering all that clever writing requires a high IQ. Often I have to pause an episode to google a line to understand its significance to the story. But I do get the bigger picture. It’s combating the same fundamental ideas of love, fear, truth while inventing cool gadgets because it’s sci-fi after all.

The characters are far from moral and you don’t know who to root for as they leave you to scrape for the wee amount of good things they do once in a while which also teaches us that kindness is a rare commodity in the modern world.

Coming back to that quote from Morty, his exact words were – 

“Nobody exists on purpose. Nobody belongs anywhere. Everybody’s gonna die. Come watch TV.”

I cried when he said this for it reminded me of something that someone said to me a while back, “Life is no rollercoaster. It’s a constant fall into oblivion while we hope to grasp onto whatever we can.” As a child, I never understood the true meaning of these lines. But now as I’m growing older, these words feel like a dagger to my chest everyday, for I know truer words have never been said.

In our never-ending journey of finding meaning to this life, it’s hard to swallow that there is no meaning to life. All we know is that some billion years ago some explosion occurred in the universe due to which we stand here today as we are slowly moving towards yet another life-changing explosion. All the facts that we now call science are assumptions and probabilities. For all we know, we could be living on the back of a giant tortoise. It’s stupid but probable.

In the end, everyone’s gonna die. They may turn into an angel or dust and ashes but it all ends with the conscious leaving the body. We don’t know where it resides. We don’t even know where this life originates in a cell but we do know that it always ends.

So let’s watch TV while we can.

All this existence talk may make you feel sad so here’s something. I guarantee it will make you happy. You’re welcome 🙂

Strangers On The Internet

Posted on by Prie

“I started this blog when the world had lost its charm for me. I was far away from my goals. I had long wandered off my road following someone else’s dream. So eventually all the magic got sucked out of life. I needed to find that magic and get back on my road.”

I love writing and weaving stories. Once I even tried maintaining a diary but my life was too boring to make the cut. That’s when this idea of making a blog was born where now I write about anything and everything.

The beauty of Wordpress lies in its abundance of strangers. When I started writing, I had decision to make. I could either remain anonymous or post a link to this blog on my social media accounts. If I had chosen the latter, I would’ve got a lot of support from my friends. But after I’d received all that validation, a sense of accomplishment would’ve brought me down eventually. I wouldn’t have been consistent enough and maybe start half-assing my posts. Eventually, I would’ve abandoned the blog as a failed dream.

Thank God, I chose the former option. This way I have to work harder but I know I’m being true to myself and won’t post anything substandard just because I’m chasing a deadline. When you’re trying to make it in this world with no prior connections, that’s when you realize the importance of strangers on the internet. One like, one comment, one follow may mean nothing to someone but it means a lot to a writer in his/her initial stages. It’s almost overwhelming knowing that someone out there miles away and beyond the oceans thinks that your work is good enough.

So thank you strangers on the Internet for spending your valuable time reading my thoughts and opinions. In this journey of making it on my own, your approval and feedback comes a long way in providing solace on some cold nights.