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Article: What exactly is `contemporary art'?
- Article from:
- Chicago Sun-Times
- Article date:
- June 16, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1996 Chicago Sun-Times. (Hide copyright information)
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Contemporary art has always proved troublesome.
It seldom seems to fulfill traditional standards of beauty.
Often it incorporates everyday materials or items, like aspirin and
soap, discarded stuffed animal toys, or even a dead sheep floating in
formaldehyde.
It frequently betrays an insider's kind of arrogance - an
elitist's "If you don't get it, tough, I'm in the know and you're
not" attitude.
Contemporary art is often about itself - either so obviously so
it's embarrassing, or so obscurely and unintelligibly that you need
an interpreter. Sometimes it seems only to have meaning for the