Historically, art told you a story. Today, art asks you questions!

While stowed away at the AGO library, I read an article written in 1934 in which an art critic addressed the exact same frustrating issue art professionals face today — a public that doesn't understand & often feels threatened by the unfamiliar forms that contemporary art can take. 

Here are a few examples:

1. New Media art: simply art created using new technologies
2. Installation art: where a sculpture doesn't necessary have fixed dimensions, can inhabit an entire room or building, often a person is able to walk through it as though it were an environment unto itself rather than an object you merely circle around.
3. Textile Art or Material Art: fine art (as opposed to craft) made of fabric, thread, fibers…
4. Found Art: an object or assemblage of objects found by the artist and deemed aesthetically viable as an independent work of art.
5. Performance Art: where a visual artist performs an act that is intended to be a work of art

Back to the point, what really caught my attention was the author's interpretation of the problem. He proposed that people expect to "read" a painting as though it were a short story.  Considering centuries of historical precedent, this is a perfectly logical assumption, There's a baby on straw with a halo, some animals, a chick dressed in blue… This seems familiar… I recognize that the artist is recounting the new Testament story of the nativity.  Genius!" In fact, a wealth of historic artwork from Europe and Asia include multiple depictions of the same protagonist(s) in a single landscape; these pieces are trying to show that character at different points in the story, the protagonist is featured multiple times to show him moving through time and space as the narrative unfolds.  Their literal approach is similar to today's graphic novel, but lacking any dividers or frames.  

But that formula for visually citing a recognizable narrative has slipped into the past, and today it's often more challenging to access the story — if there is one — and the meaning of the work.  Perhaps the key to unlocking contemporary art is understanding its temperament.  It insists that you approach it was a modicum of respect and plenty of curiosity.  Let's explore how art shifted from an accessibly story to its more aloof present day iteration: contemporary art was born in the age of globalism.  It wasn't all created for one Church, one State, one culture, or even for one oligarchic elite.  It lacks both a cohesive language of symbols and a constant index of reference points.   

Now more than ever, the definition of art contains multitudes.