Minimalist Art makes me want to puke. People are getting rich for drawing lines, and it feels like a spit on the graves of the greats. Van Gogh didn’t go crazy and cut his ear off for a black paint splatter to be considered “art.” Art is a broad spectrum; I get that. But a scribble that takes less than 30 seconds to complete should not be written off as art. Unfortunately, artists with real talents have been kicked to the curb and ignored while already rich people pour paint over themselves and sell it for millions of dollars. Not only is this a waste of paints, supplies, products, and money, but it looks awful. This minimalist trend is, unfortunately, on the rise. Specifically in architecture, white houses with white walls, white furniture, and white lights have become the new norm.
We all know Boulder is a very Chi Chi city, but it’s challenging to really picture the hellish architecture until you see these newly built houses. The walls were blank, the only colors of the houses were white, black, or gray, which, of course, the real estate agents pompously marked up as: “eggshell white” or “chantilly lace white.” When we think of beautiful architecture I pretty much guarantee you think of the Sagrada Familia, the Colosseum, Notre Dame. Not of your rich neighbor’s house that has a poorly placed window overlooking their pristine gold loo. Not only architecture, but sculptures. Do you think if Michelangelo carved a simple marble pole, he would be famed? No, he would be poor and probably hung for wasting expensive material.
This art trend also applies to companies oversimplifying logos. Watch how much the Starbucks mermaid has changed- you can’t even tell it’s a mermaid anymore. Pepsi, Maccas, Firefox, Pringles, and so many more have been mutilated into the shadows of what they once were. Have humans become so lazy that drawing is too exhausting? If you can’t make time to create art, perhaps it isn’t for you. Sorry.
Have you ever seen Michelangelo’s statue of Moses? That little muscle that only contracts when the pinky is extended is apparent in the marble statue. This small detail, almost unnoticeable, makes the sculpture that much better and will always be famed because of this.
Minimalist Art needs to be shut down, it is an ugly and pitiful excuse of art, and we should not stand for it. Next time you see a simple white house, egg it, and bring some color back to the neighborhood. Don’t allow these millennial “artists” to ruin art please!
