Jakob Zaaiman

A simple and straightforward explanation of the essential features of modern contemporary art - and by implication of art itself - presented in terms of the basic elements of human crafting as an expression of basic human needs and motivations.
For more on these ideas, argued systematically:

The traditional conception of art is about sensual beauty and refined taste; modern art on the other hand has introduced an entirely unexpected dimension to the visual arts, namely that of 'revelatory narrative'. Classical art aspires to present works which can be appreciated as sensually beautiful; modern art, when it succeeds, presents us instead with the unsettling narrative. This radical difference in artistic purpose is something relatively new, and not yet fully appreciated or understood.

Modern art has yet to be properly explained and given its own distinctive and authentic philosophy. It is almost always portrayed – openly or subliminally –  as if it were somehow striving for much the same objectives as classical art, though perhaps by very different means. This has the effect of making modern artworks look slightly ridiculous in comparison with the grandeur of their classical counterparts, at the same time as making it an uphill struggle to try to argue the case for their supposed value.

'Art' still needs a practical, useful definition, not of the academic variety, but rather of the plain and simple sort that you can usefully take with you into a gallery, and apply directly to what you see. People want to know, with a basic clarity, what it is they are looking at, and how to judge the good from the bad. Because if you don't know what 'art' is, and you think it's all about 'classical fine crafting', then you are missing out on a very special type of experience, and an entire realm of imaginative possibilities. As it turns out, the best way to think of 'art' – taking a huge hint from the concept of 'arthouse cinema'-is not about delighting in solemn, stolid museum pieces, and developing a deferential love of the classical: it is all about an exploration-through various available media-of the strange, the disturbing, and the darkly fascinating. The great thing about art is that it offers a safe and enjoyable environment in which to contemplate all kinds of darkness, without having to submit to this negativity in life itself.

What follows here is not a definition of art by decree. Nor is this some kind of art manifesto. We are not saying this is how art should be, or could be, but how it is, if you let go of the prison of aesthetics, and follow an infinitely more interesting conceptual trail. This is about uncovering and identifying an approach to art which avoids the triviality of sensory-based aesthetic theory and moves instead towards exploring the experiential worlds that art presents us with. And this approach is not about diminishing the sensory enjoyment of artworks, but about placing them in a much richer context, where they can work a far greater magic.

Jeff Koons bewilders the artworld. No one is sure whether he is good or bad, or just plain nothing at all. Critics feel free to be scathing. ‘Anuses on rods’ is how his latest large-scale public sculpture ‘Bouquet of Tulips’ (2019), was described by Yves Michaud in the French press recently, and the work itself was vandalised with the graffiti tag ‘bouquet of arseholes’. The piece is supposed to be a memorial to the victims of the 2015 Bataclan terror attack in Paris, and it is as good a point as any with which to begin a discussion of Jeff Koons and the whole of his artistic adventure.

The problem in a word: that there are a number of celebrated ‘artists’ out there who are in fact not really creating ‘art’ at all, but instead dishing up stuff which is altogether less interesting. For a start, which part of all the clutter is the ‘art’ ? And what are we supposed to do with it ? Questions like this explain why contemporary art is afflicted by a pervading sense of uncertainty, combined with the very real possibility that audiences – enthusiastic or not – are being sold well short.

Hughes saw modern contemporary art as no more than a ‘dumb show’ put on by ‘twits’. Classicism of Hughes’s variety likes to think of itself as the last word in culture and refinement, but behind its ornate exterior it is straightforwardly shallow and one-dimensional. It encourages professional aesthetes to think of themselves as super-sensitives, with all their capacities refined to a high camp tizzy, but in practice they’re very often the least perceptive, and the most intellectually bigoted.

Robert Hughes described Warhol as ‘as one of the stupidest people I’d ever met in my life. Because he had nothing to say.’ Hughes was dismissive of much of modern art because, like many other old school aesthetes, he never managed to understand it.

One of the difficulties standing in the way of a straightforward understanding of art is caused by the confusion that arises at a very basic level between the purposes and functions of various types of crafted material. In fact, there are only three major types – covering all eventualities – and being able to differentiate between them very much helps to pinpoint exactly what the special nature of ‘art’ is.

Art is about the exploration of the strange and disturbing; it is not about classical fine crafting. Artists use artworks to exteriorise their inner landscapes, thereby allowing others to experience their take on life, at least vicariously. It is this exteriorisation which is 'art', not the aesthetic features of the individual artworks themselves, which is properly the domain of crafting and design. Aesthetics cannot explain the work of many major modern contemporary artists, because it fails to locate the underlying unifying ideas. Jeff Koons qualifies as an artist not because of his production of standalone objects, but because behind these objects is a distinctive and unusual mentality and mindset which gives meaning to them. This is where the art of Jeff Koons is to be located. His work is contrasted with that of Andy Warhol and Damien Hirst, in order to further illustrate and clarify the conception of art employed in this study.

Modern art remains a mystery because most people – including art critics and even artists themselves – are unable to see beyond the imprisoning confines of classical fine art. Everything is judged in terms of beauty and technical skill, when it should be viewed from a quite different perspective, namely that of the imaginative world that the modern artwork is a part of. Successful and authentic modern art is about creating worlds of the imagination - like a film, or a novel - only this time using different media. Modern artworks are like lobby cards and film stills to imaginative worlds, and they should not be seen as aesthetic ends-in-themselves. And for an artwork to be authentically artistic, as opposed to merely crafted, it must invoke a ‘strange and disturbing’ imaginative world, not a variant of the world we currently inhabit, as that world is the world of crafted and aesthetic objects.

This book is intended to be a simple & easy-to-read guide to everything you need to know to understand & appreciate MODERN CONTEMPORARY ART.
The aim is to explain the key ideas underlying the principles of modern contemporary art, so that you can meaningfully evaluate and enjoy contemporary artworks on their own terms.  Anyone with an interest in any of the arts can benefit from this book: you do not need to have specialist background knowledge or artistic training.  We will provide you with a very down-to-earth & easily applicable understanding of modern art that you will soon be able to use whatever the occasion & whatever the artform.
(And for those who require scholarly detail, we have provided footnotes and a bibliography.)

Key words: modern art, contemporary art, art theory, philosophy of art, aesthetics