A brief, cynical history of 20th century art

At the beginning of the 20^th century, science was presenting the world with a new vision of the material world, one which could not be seen, but whose structure could be understood and visualized in abstract form. Surface gave way to structure. Cezanne had begun to see this, and the Futurists, Cubists along with Gabo, Pevsner, Moore and others explored this new vision. The Surrealists and Dadaists investigated human behavior and psychology.

As the century unfolded, New York became the art center of the world and the United States became a global power. Abstract Expressionism asserted itself as mainstream art practice. Here was the beginning of art propped up by theory, art dumping its social and moral responsibilities, art avoiding serious subject matter, art hiding in the comfortable arms of formalism.

New York, as commercial and media center of America, turned its provincial gaze on art and turned it into a commodity, something to be marketed and invested in, something for New Yorkers, but certainly not for the masses.

When youth culture, with its financial punch, asserted itself, fine art, like corporate America, dove enthusiastically into pop culture. Not to comment on it, but to make a living from it. Pop artists began careers, made names, made lots of money and eventually became parodies of themselves, stunted in their growth as artists.

Fortunately, art began to right itself, as it always must do. Alternative spaces and media, art centers emerging globally, artists making what they must make come hell or high water, young artists believing in art for the right reasons, race, class gender, sexuality, ethnicity and many other social issues are the stuff art is made of and about.

Immigrant artists abandon their own countries for New York, where they encounter the hoped-for notoriety and media attention with its uncertain consequences. They address their issues far from the issues themselves but under the toxic stare of the New Youk art world.

As America’s position of world dominance becomes more shaky, so does that of New York’s dominance of the art world. As America searches for a way toward a freedom based on humane values lived out globally, the art world must search for a place where the highest motives can thrive.