No longer does art have a sacred status raising us to a higher moral or spiritual plane, it is just one human gesture among others, no more meaningful than a laugh or shout. Art once made a cult of beauty. Now we have a cult of ugliness instead. Since the world is disturbing, art should be disturbing too.
Those who look for beauty in art are just out of touch with modern realities. Sometimes the intention is to shock us. But what is shocking first time round, is boring and vacuous when repeated. This makes art into an elaborate joke, though by now that has ceased to be funny, yet the critics go on endorsing it, afraid to say that the emperor has no clothes. Creative art is not achieved, just like that, simply by having an idea. Of course, ideas can be interesting and amusing, but this does not justify the appropriation of the label “art.” If a work of art is nothing more than an idea, anybody can be an artist. And any object can be a work of art. There is no longer any need for skill, taste or creativity.
Sir Roger Scruton from his documentary, Why Beauty Matters
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