I’ve been watcing a lot of these shit people say videos. I can’t help it, they appear on my dash and I decide I must watch them. I think I’ve actually become a pretty capable critic of them. There’s the stregnth of the humor (which largely comes from accuracy and sometimes being offensive), there’s production value (do not underestimate production value) there’s the acting skills of the people…okay this is really not the point.
The point is that on the internet we see things and we’re like, “hey I bet you I could do that!” Some people do it well, most people do it poorly, but enough people try.
Anyway, when I was in Paris I traveled with someone who was not really a modern art (let’s say impressionism on) fan. At one point, after I had dragged her to about 7 modern art museums she finally just said what almost every person will say at one point, “I could do that.” I tried to explain that “no, it broke boundaries, it’s incredible,” but at the end of the day there are certain styles (cubism, collage) that if you have a decent eye, basic skills with a paintbrushand the desire to do so, yeah, you probably could do that.
Contemporary art gets to be art, and not just some triangles or, as my friend said (and then I almost hit her) “it’s like they tried to paint something that actually looked like the person and then they just failed.”
The shit on the internet is not art (there are exceptions, and there is also art that’s made and then uploaded to the internet, not art made for the internet). People make things on the internet, but they make (overwhelmingly) new versions of the same crap that people made before them. Immitations that just go on and on until they’re a god damn meme.
I’m concerned that the internet is making me less creative.
When I was younger I made art because I was bored. Or not art, but I made stuff. I drew and I wrote and I pissed my mom off by crazy glueing shit together. Now I don’t do that.
I value the internet as a method for sharing our creativity, but I’m worried that it also diminishes it. I’m not saying that we wouldn’t get caught up in useless crap without the internet, but I think about how many photos of skinny girls in beautiful clothes I must scroll through in the course of a day without really giving them any thought. Maybe a little heart here or there. I think about the times I see something on the internet and go “oh I should do that” and instead just keep scrolling.
So, I guess I’m curious if this is a personal flaw or if other denizens of the internet feel this too.
And also, this went in two different directions. I was going to medidate on modern art. Then I got lazy (fucking internet and the desire for instant publishing).
