Eight Misperceptions About Contemporary Art

By Jeff Severns Guntzel
Published on May 13, 2009
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“More than in any other field, misperceptions about contemporary art keep audiences from effectively engaging it,” writes Alt Wire alumnus Paddy Johnson in her latest L Magazinecolumn.

In an effort to “give the gallery-goer a few tools to make sense of what they see,” Johnson, who also blogs at the wonderful Art Fag City, has constructed a list of myths about contemporary art. We’ve included a crib sheet below, but you really ought to read her rundown of each item.

Paddy Johnson’s “Eight Fallacies About Contemporary Art”:

1. This work generated so much discussion, it must be good!
2. Anything can be art!
3. Value is completely subjective.
4. Anyone could do that.
5. Elitism rules the art world.
6. Pioneering artists are “ahead of their time.”
7. I don’t know enough about art to talk about it.
8. Art professionals wear black.

Source: L Magazine, Art Fag City

Image by My Hobo Soul, Licensed under Creative Commons.

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