This blog post may challenge your sensibilities, and it may rub you the wrong way. I ask that you read it with an open mind, and I won’t be offended if you disagree.
I think part of the reason the stories of H.P. Lovecraft have endured so long is that he was able to tap into a hidden darkness within our collective psyche. His hideous monsters of chaos play upon a fear within our subconscious minds. All people possess it, I think, though few know what to call it. Other people seem drawn to this darkness in disturbing ways. There are real people like that; people who seem drawn to chaos. Now, the cult of Cthulhu may or may not exist (as weird as 2020 is, I wouldn’t be surprised if the cult of Cthulhu were a thing), but there are people out there who seem to worship ugliness. Recently, DC Comics released an alternative cover for “Wonder Woman: 1984”. This was a very different Wonder Woman than we’re used to seeing. I won’t address the “body positivity” aspect to this cover, because the artist seems to have disregarded basic anatomy anyway. The cover looks like something I might’ve drawn in middle school. The artist never varied his line width, and as I stated above, anatomy was out the window. Don’t even get me started on the purple skin tone. Who decided this was a good idea?
That cover is what brought on this post. There appears to be a concerted effort to destroy objective standards of what is art, and what is beauty. I’ve hated modern art ever since I was a teen, though I couldn’t place why. Modern art was absurd, and I just didn’t understand it, nor did I want to understand it. Some modern art is so abstract that it could be mistaken for a tablecloth. Other pieces are so ridiculous that you could swear they were painted by a toddler or even an animal. If your “art” is indistinguishable from the random scribblings of apes, then there is a problem. It angered me that people with less than half my talent could be considered “artists” in the same sense that I could. And people pay money to buy and look at these horrid insults to humanity. That’s the part I find most disgusting.
I’ve noticed the same with architecture. The drab, dull, soulless, monotonous boxes that make up most buildings today are as a result of modern, minimalist thinking that has laid aside the beauty and glory of past architectural works in favor of brutal, flat structures. Art should have a form. It should be understandable. You should be able to look at it and immediately discern some form of it. You may not be able to understand it fully right away, but you should be able to know at least what is in front of you. Say you’re looking at a sculpture of a centaur, but don’t know anything about Greek myths. You should be able to tell it’s a man with a horse’s body, even though you may not understand the significance of it. Art should require skill and practice to achieve; you shouldn’t be able to get away with painting nonsensical shapes, colors and random splatters. There have to be objective standards of beauty. Otherwise, we sink to the level of beasts.
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AuthorI'm Ian Wilson; an eccentric comic artist, just telling a story.
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