Actually, You Should Criticize Art

Artist unknown

I am a firm believer in judging books by their covers. This is fundamentally because I'm too critical for my own good, but also because the budget for a book's cover design and marketing is based solely on expert assessments of how good the book's content is, and is therefore usually a good indicator of whether the book is actually going to be any good.

It's not just books. If we can agree that art is subjective, I think it is only fair that we agree that we are allowed to have differing opinions about art. It sounds rational now, but you'd be surprised how possessive people get over their favorite artists and their products. 

For example, Taylor Swift's The Life of a Showgirl came out just a few weeks ago. Personally, I was disappointed, and I think I still am. The album simply wasn't what I was expecting it to be. I only liked two of the songs after my first listen, and I frankly regretted staying up until midnight waiting for the release. Now, I do admit that after a few more listens, I like more of the songs, though I do still think "Wood" is vulgar and "Elizabeth Taylor" is obnoxious. 

You see how some of you got riled up there? Maybe you're not a Swiftie yourself, but I can guarantee at least one of the millions of opinions on this album has popped up on your for-you page. To be honest, I don't mind it. I enjoy seeing which things other people did or did not like, and how many of them agree with me.

However, mixed in with all the other videos sharing reviews and skits are a sect of Swifties who firmly believe that it is a criminal offense to even mildly dislike a single song on the album. You know the ones I'm talking about. The ones scowling at their cameras, saying that they "better not see you in the Ticketmaster queue" or that the album's concept was simply to over your head, and everyone was just too stupid to understand it. What these particular women are missing, however, is the fact that you are allowed to dislike art, even Taylor Swift's art. 

Pablo Picasso's The Old Guitarist 
(photo taken by me)

Pablo Picasso is widely regarded as being a founding father of modern art, a man who developed the concept of abstract artistry and influenced the artistic world as we know it. Guess what? I hate most of Picasso's "best" work. Was I amazed to see The Old Guitarist when I visited the Art Institute of Chicago? Absolutely. But the majority of his work, I find meaningless and slightly disturbing. 

"Sugar" by Gertrude Stein is my least favorite poem I've ever read. Does that mean it's objectively bad? Of course not. But I still think the millennial literary critic who said it was a fascinating take on the meaninglessness of life was wrong. And believe it or not, I'm allowed to think that. 

You are allowed to critique art. You are even allowed to hate art. If you want to, you are even allowed to declare that something is or is not art. (I also saw a piece titled Clown Torture at the AIC, and I'm still unsure of whether that was art. Also, I still firmly hold that Maurizio Cattelan's Comedian is not art, as I've said before.)

Bruce Nauman's Clown Torture

There seems to be this false idea that art is on some untouchable pedestal and can never be demoted or critiqued. That's simply not true. Just because someone else made it or worked hard on it doesn't mean it's sheltered from criticism. I work hard on this blog, and I would be delighted if someone would take the time to criticize me, because it would mean that they actually read something that I wrote. 

However, there is a caveat. Yes, you can dislike a person's art. Yes, you can disagree with it and express that disagreement as loudly as you want. Still, kindness matters. Art is not emotionally fragile, and your opinions about it will not hurt it, but they might hurt the artist. Your opinions can be honest, yet still be considerate and kind. Even I come off harsher than I mean to at times, but at least taking into consideration how your opinions may impact the artist can help you present them more fruitfully. 

If you don't like a piece of art, you're allowed to say so, despite what Ticketmaster-crazy Swifties may say. If you think Charles Dickens was a phony who was simply chasing money, you're allowed to say so, despite what your English teacher may think. You are allowed to disagree with people, to find things ugly, to dislike what is appraised as wonderful. You are allowed to criticize art, and, if you really want to do something meaningful, you are allowed to make art that you think is better. 

"Now that we can read, what prevents us from judging the results?" 
-- Virginia Woolf's A Society