- [Announcer] This video is sponsored by BetterHelp.
(upbeat music)
- [Narrator] You're hiding out in a dimly lit corner
at a crowded house party when a chaotic,
abstract painting catches your eye.
This $10 bootleg Jackson Pollock print
seems like more charismatic company
than that guy shotgunning a a craft beer,
so you stop and really soak it in.
And that's when it happens.
That's right, a smirking dude in an ascot
with a perfectly manicured mustache
approaches and declares, "This isn't art."
Is he negging you?
Probably.
Still you feel compelled to engage.
Modern arts' reputation is on the line,
and you're the only person who can save it.
So how do you calmly and brilliantly explain to this guy
that he's positively off his aesthetic rocker?
We'll tell you how, in this episode of "How to Sound Smart"
about modern art.
♪ With your friends or on a date ♪
♪ Arguing online with someone you hate ♪
♪ Conversation is an art ♪
♪ So let us tell you how to sound smart ♪
- [Narrator] Before we dive in,
we wanna thank this video's sponsor, BetterHelp.
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And now back to the wonderful world of modern art.
Modern art's an umbrella term for artistic traditions
that span from about the 1860s to the 1970s.
Anything made after is, confusingly enough,
called contemporary art.
And that includes your third grade macaroni self portrait.
Influential figures in modern art
include chronic apple enthusiast Paul Cezanne
and Edouard Manet who painted lovely images
of Parisian urban life.
You can think of him as the analog streetwear blogger.
Modern artists thought hyper realistic representation
was for nerds and preferred to experiment wildly
with form, color, and composition.
Their art, like your brief fling with Ryan Reynolds,
was often meant to read more conceptual than literal.
Modern artists were reacting to the quickly changing
urban world where things like light bulbs
and Coca-Cola started popping off.
Because everybody was so over stimulated
by bright lights and fizzy beverages,
modern artists felt that old artistic traditions
were now too safe and boring,
especially once the devastation of World War I was over.
Artists wanted to cause a more complex reaction
in the viewer,
even when that reaction was really just a lot
of confused head scratching
with a side of existential angst.
As new technology made printing easier and cheaper,
some modern artists started painting
mass-printed advertisements for hip events
like concerts and readings.
Take Toulouse-Lautrec, for example,
whose nightlife posters evoke sexy,
candlelit Parisian rooms.
And so, just as modern artists were pushing
definitions of art,
the line between art and advertisements
started getting blurrier than Claude Monet's
precious water lilies.
And this merging of the art and ad worlds
is why you'll remember this expired soup can
on your deathbed.
Overall, modern artists were less interested
in classical beauty and more interested
in depicting the truth, even when the truth,
like your litigious landlords taste in carpeting,
is pretty ugly.
So the question became what truth should art try to capture
and convey?
Take surrealism.
That clock is melting precisely because Dali and his buddies
were actively trying to sidestep your rational brain
and access more visceral,
pure feelings hidden deep in your subconscious.
The truth then, per surrealists, is whatever you feel,
especially when you feel like a third round
of rose at brunch.
Hey, my truth is my truth.
Many modern artists were inspired by noted shrink
and phallus enthusiast, Sigmund Freud,
and his writing about the subconscious.
These dealt with heady things
like the fractured nature of self
or the impossibility of meaning.
Abstract painters and surrealists stan Freud,
even if they had never once ogled their mother's bosom.
Okay?
Modern art's known for being exorbitantly expensive
but that trend didn't really kick off until the 1980s.
That's when a rise in global art investors,
a reduced tax incentive to donate to art museums,
and an overall vibe of hyper materialism
took over the industry.
Also as modern artists started, you know, dying,
their work only skyrocketed in value.
Ironically though, all these rich people were arguing
over the dollar value of modern artwork,
many modern artists themselves questioned
whether art had any intrinsic social value at all.
They say, you say.
They say, "My rescue micro pig could paint this."
You say, "The point isn't just the piece itself.
It's the way it evokes specific emotions.
Colors and shapes have associations
and make you feel things.
And even if Mr. Pinky theoretically could have made this,
he didn't.
Rothko beat him to it.
Better luck next time, Babe."
Then you take a breath and add,
"Also, it's not about the complexity of each paint stroke.
It's about the ideas being conveyed.
And often those ideas have to do with how much
being a human sucks in modern times.
Pretty relatable, right?
Speaking of, I better go feed my parking meter."
They say, "Not one person in this Picasso painting is hot."
You say, "Using the grotesque or surreal to emphasize
the strangeness of the human condition
actually lets us think deeper about what it means
to be human.
And it does so in a more profound way
than looking at an oil painting of a handsome duke.
All we really learn about that guy
is he looked sexy in satin.
But also we get it, looking at hot people rules."
They say, "Is this a urinal or is it art,
'cause boy, do I gotta whiz."
You say, "A lot of modern art is about challenging
the very definition of art itself.
For a lot of people art is whatever
a monocle-wearing museum curator says is art.
So when Marcel Duchamp called this urinal art
he was middle fingering that power dynamic.
Then when monocle guy was like, 'Hey, this is brilliant,'
The joke changed because dude just paid millions of dollars
for a toilet.
Pretty punk, right?"
They say, "Art should represent at real life."
You say, "If you want realism, go take a selfie.
Part of the reason modern art got so creative
is because photography kind of one upped artists
in depicting real life.
So modern artists creatively pivoted.
That's why so much modern art
is more about reconfiguring reality to depict things
you can't see out your window.
And often this actually lets artists
make meaningful social commentary,
like Otto Dix's monstrous depictions
of the dickish German elite partying down
while the rest of the country was starving."
Here's how to blow their minds.
Ascot guy's starting to finally come around
to the mind bending vibes of modern art,
but your not just trying to bend his mind,
you're ready to melt it like a Dali clock.
Here's how to do it.
You charmingly note that what makes modern art pretty cool
is that in the old days,
there was a lot of pressure for your art to be morally good
or even educational,
which is why people went ham on Jesus, biblical stories,
and the like.
Modern artists were like, "(beep) that noise,"
and decided let's just make art for art's sake.
In fact, painter James McNeill Whistler
actually sued an art critic who set his abstract art
wasn't truly art because it wasn't socially good
for the world.
And the dude won.
Well, he was only awarded less than a penny,
but, hey, victory is priceless.
Art, like a judge who's just removed their wig and robe,
no longer had to be terribly concerned with morality.
By now you probably have Mr. Ascot waxing poetic
about the wonders of abstract expressionism
while waxing his mustache.
And you're so pleased with your progress
that you're totally willing to agree when he suggests
that the dribble of wine he spilled on his white blazer
is a work of art in itself too.
Gorgeous.
Our work here is done.
And you are officially clever.
See you next time on "How to Sound Smart."
(upbeat music)