Crisis in Art Criticism



Crisis in Art Criticism

Introduction

This paper intends to discuss the crisis in art criticism. Various significant aspects of how art criticism has changed along the time will be explored in the paper. The way art was being perceived in the twentieth century remained quite different to that of the nineteenth century. Various changes take places around us all the time. Changes within the world and environment create new functions and even new practices and roles for art. All these changes have significant impact on the world of art criticism as well. Art criticism basically refers to the documentation of significance of art value. Art criticism has been significantly changes along the time. The purpose of this paper is to explore the crisis in art criticism along with the critical nature of contemporary art.

Discussion

Reading reviews is quite common before reaching the actual play or book. Reviews are meant to provide criticism in order to make the readers aware about the various important aspects prevailing within the piece of art. Art criticism has been defined as reviewing the value of art and its relative significance. Criticism can be either descriptive or evaluative. Descriptive criticism refers to the analysis of art work without being judgmental. On the other hand, evaluative criticism focuses on the value of the entire piece of art.

The art criticism has remained a significant phenomenon in the world of art. Art, itself basically is the process of creating things which are generally free from any restrictive boundaries. Similarly; art criticism, remains a scientific process that involves various methodologies and rigor. The artists usually do not provide any obvious reasons for their work or they are not even required to explain each of their art piece. However, the art critics are required to publish criticisms with scientific proofs and evidence (John, 2011 Pp. 1-2).

The practice of art criticism is seemed to be facing intense crisis since a quite long time. The main reasons which are assumed to back the crisis of art criticism are the paucity of competent critics along with the dearth of media space earmarked. Moreover, another reason behind the extreme crisis of art criticism is usually the domination of few critics in the world of arts. The opinions of critics are already established and similar all the time. The personal ties with the artists of the critics also create hurdles in honest criticism (Melanie, 2011 Pp. 1-25).

The field of art criticism does not allow placing only usual compliments. The field of art criticism is facing crisis because the critics tend to only compliment the art pieces because of their close relationships with the artists. Moreover, since critics establish relationships with well known artists, the actual and key artists remain unmentioned within the press. The artists that have already established their name in the market are getting all the attention and new comers face intense problems in being notices by the critics and the media.

Another reason that is creating crisis for the ...