It is no secret that the art of our days often causes ordinary inhabitants who are not particularly familiar with art criticism, pretty perplexed and even indignant. Of course, if you compare modern canvases with Raphael or Aivazovsky, the difference will be obvious, and the sculpture of today has very little to do with antique.
However, contemporary art has a number of its own characteristics, and even virtues that you just need to understand.
Modern Culture
If you pay closer attention to the cultural process of our days, you can see that it is significantly different from what we are used to seeing. If the canvases and sculptures of the exhibitions of the leading world museums are original and beautiful in themselves, then almost all modern art requires some explanation, addition.
In this case, we have in mind the fact that almost any work of modernity requires a presentation, an explanation of the concept, the basic principle underlying. This is performative art in the first place.
Art and Man of Today
Before embarking on a comparative description, it should be determined what is the attitude of today's man to various forms of art. It is no secret that for most of the population, classical art has become a kind of sign of good taste. In this case, it is understood that the ability to distinguish Rubens' works from Brueghel's works is necessary for mankind not for pleasure, but for classifying itself as a certain class, no matter how strange it may sound.
Art in the life of modern man has become a marker of culture, selectivity and elitism. Of course, in this case it is impossible to talk about the absolute quantity, but for the most part the attitude to the cultural heritage is just that.
As for contemporary art, in this case people are divided into two camps: categorical opponents of this kind of creativity and supporters, in whom it causes admiration. The newest art in the life of a modern person often becomes incomprehensible than delightful.
As already mentioned, the latest works related to art require description. Let's try to figure out what is the peculiarity of the creativity of our time.
Secrets of Contemporary Art
If you pay closer attention to the works of our time, you can easily find some patterns. For example, the fact that today's creations are mostly minimalistic and even somewhat careless. Sometimes it seems as if the artist or sculptor had practically no effort in this. Also, the work of modern authors definitely gravitates toward simplicity and even primitivism.
This will definitely remind a person more or less familiar with the cultural process, namely the art of a primitive man (if, of course, this can be called art to the full). However, more on that later.
Before you find out whether it is possible to compare contemporary and primitive art, you should put all the dots on the “i” in the issue of intentional primitivization. You should ask just one question: "Why is this, in fact, necessary?"
And this is necessary so that as much as possible meanings can be invested in a specific image. If in classical aesthetics an object carries only one concept, under which it is directly executed, then contemporary and primitive art work differently. Recall only the famous “Black Square” of Malevich - how many interpretations of this phenomenon exist?
The simpler the image, the more likely it will be filled with numerous meanings. And now we turn to the art of our distant, distant ancestors to find out whether it is possible to compare contemporary and primitive art.
Features of the primitive
First of all, it should be noted that the fact that thanks to the efforts of archaeologists has survived to this day, is not fully art. Various cave paintings, dishes, jewelry, and so on - did not initially represent absolutely no value. They had a completely different order of importance, namely sacred. All the art of the primitive world was aimed not at beauty, but at the sacrament, unity with nature, the ability to defeat it.
Of course, this is precisely what gave impetus to the development of aesthetics in the life of mankind. Nevertheless, if we list the types of primitive art, its practical value becomes more obvious.
What was the art of primitive people
First of all, this, of course, images of animals. Of course, primitive man did not portray mammoths or tigers in order to capture the magnificence of nature and the grace of these wonderful animals. The thing is that by means of an image (or modeling, which clearly describes the hypothesis of models), a primitive man hoped in some way to take away his strength from the animal he was hunting. On the other hand, the same actions are also associated with the beginnings of totemism - the belief that one or another animal is at the heart of a genus, however, the image of animals received this meaning much later.
As for the crockery of the dishes found during the excavation, and especially decorated with various ornaments, in this case we are also talking about the sacred, magical meaning of the things depicted. In this case, we were not talking about simple embellishment.
Later versions, too, could mean that the objects belong to a specific genus or territory in which they were made.
Similarities with modernity
Is it possible to compare contemporary and primitive art? The answer is yes. Can. You can compare, in fact, anything you want, and even more so those phenomena that really have certain intersection points.
First of all, this, of course, is primitiveness and minimalism in execution. Like it or not, almost all contemporary art is just that, which gives prerequisites for comparison.
In addition, as already mentioned, it is conceptually inherently and without introduction into the context, without its explanation loses its value.
Finally, it should be noted that, of course, the creators of today, of course, rely on the experience of distant ancestors, in many respects imitate them. Moreover, quite a lot of works of art, starting from such a direction as abstractionism, are converted and based precisely on primitive art.
Cardinal differences
So, after we found out whether it is possible to compare contemporary and primitive art on the basis of their common features, let us pay attention to noticeable differences.
First of all, it is worth paying attention to the fact that the art of a man who existed at the dawn of time had a completely concrete orientation and did not allow any other interpretations, had no other meanings, while contemporary art was completely subordinated to the will of the beholder and explicer.
In addition, primitive art was aimed at bringing practical benefits while today's creations exist for their own sake or the expression of an idea. This art is speaking, performative, shocking.
Thus, we can say that there are definitely some similarities between primitive and contemporary art, but there are no less significant differences.