Hello dear readers and subscribers.
Are we still able, in the 21st century, to create art that is truly great?
That is a masterpiece that will be remembered and treasured in a thousand years.
Last week my wife and I went to Bruges and I really insisted to go to the Sint Jans Hospital to see the, I think third largest triptych of Hans Memmeling, one of the greats of the Flemish primitives.
It's a work that has been on my bucket list for a long while.
To see it in person, and as soon as I entered that small space that they have for it in the Sint Jans Hospital, I felt something immediately.
I felt immediately that I was in the presence of greatness, of great art.
Kind of overwhelmed, not mentally, but almost physically.
You feel a certain aura and emotion really overwhelming you.
You feel it in every single bone of your body.
It's a terrific painting.
I strongly recommend everyone to visit it if you can.
And while we were contemplating that artwork over a nice Belgian beer how great life can be we were kind of considering like okay, in a thousand years or in this case the painting was from 1479, so let's say in roughly half a millennium what will be the great things, the great artworks that people treasure from our day and age and, as many of you know, I'm a very passionate and positive person when it comes to contemporary art and I was struggling a little bit to set out works where I have a similar experience with that I see achieve the same greatness as that particular Memling painting which yeah, kind of struck me.
I know that there are a lot of people who are very pessimistic when it comes to contemporary art which, for me personally, is not necessarily the case.
But I was kind of worried that I couldn't immediately say these are the greatest artworks of our time.
I could mention the greatest artists of our time or the artists that I really, really enjoy.
But it was very difficult to then say one particular artwork by these artists that I think is truly great.
And the reason why I'm making this video is I'm currently preparing an article on the greatest artworks of our time since 2000.
Art since 2000, since the 21st century.
And I noticed that with a lot of artists.
I perceive them as great but it is kind of spread across the entirety of their work and not always as isolated in singular stellar pieces, which I was kind of disappointed about.
While writing this list, I noticed that a lot of artists I really like weren't being included.
Say, for instance, Tracey Emin.
I think her most iconic artwork is arguably My Bed, which I created before 2000.
And I was really frustrated that I didn't have an alternative in the 21st century to include her.
And the same goes with many great artists, Wolfgang Tillmann, great artists, very significant.
But I'm unable to provide a piece that is truly great, where I have that same experience as I have with the Memling painting.
And there are numerous other examples.
And then it also kind of made me question what makes an artwork great today or iconic today.
At a certain point, I had a feeling that this list that I was currently assembling and please help me assemble this list if there are artworks that you think are truly great and iconic and that should be included in this article and video, do let me know in the comments to help me out a little bit.
But I noticed that a lot of the artworks that I was inclined to include in this article were also part of the article of our top 30 most controversial artworks.
So what is generating the greatness and iconicity here?
The quality of the work?
Or is it the story that comes with it?
The controversy, the circulation of the artwork, the media, attention?
Think of Catalan's Banana.
His artwork Comedium is arguably already more iconic than some of his in my opinion, better works.
Ave Maria, him also.
America works that I think are a lot better and more clever, but due to the storm surrounding that artwork It became more exemplary of our time and therefore also more iconic.
But don't think it is a greater artwork.
So what is creating iconicity here?
Is it still artistic quality and relevance?
Or is it political relevance?
Because that were also kind of the works that I was inclined to include, artworks that were politically very relevant.
And most often when they're politically relevant, they also get the circulation it's required for an artwork to become, or to be considered, iconic.
I also think it's a really interesting thought from Taylor Irvine.
You might know him from the yearbook committee.
They also create nice films about contemporary art.
Who is kind of a person who seems to struggle with this very aspect whether or not we can still create great art or what art we should create in the 21st century.
And it makes a very interesting analogy that creating art today is similar to playing a video game that your older brother or sister already completed all the levels.
So you already have all the tools at your disposal and completed or opened all the doors, because very often for an artwork to become iconic is when it opens a new door.
Think of Duchamp's fountain.
It opened the door of the ready-made, the found object, but also kind of opened up the definition of art very, very radically.
So therefore it is considered of great significance and great artwork.
Manet opened modernism in a sense with his, so also a great artwork and an iconic artwork, and we see that with with modernism, where we had this artistic innovation, it was easier to see when an artwork was great, because then the parameter was being innovative art, historically relevant, based on style.
Think of Picasso's Demoiselle d'Avignon, truly iconic.
Or Kazimir Malovich's Black Square, I mean, very radical, very iconic.
And this is, of course, something that is no longer possible today, in an era where everything well not everything is being done, but that innovation for the sake of innovation is no longer a thing.
And I think that's also a good thing that iconicity or greatness shouldn't be tied to progress or innovation alone.
I mean, the idea of progress has been hollowed out by the end of modernism, but that's a different discussion, of course.
But that begs the question, what makes art great today?
I think I see a lot of great shows where I have kind of a similar feeling.
So these types of artistic experiences, But that being condensed in a single artwork, that seems to be a lot more rare.
And very often the artists who do achieve it aren't always the greatest artists.
So it seems like we have some flattening and where political relevance or controversy becomes more important than art historical relevance and quality.
However, of course, as I'm writing this article, there are a number of artworks that I have already written down.
I think I'm around 30 pieces.
So definitely consider subscribing to see that particular video.
So there is still great art.
But being as blown away as with that Memling painting is very rare.
And I would like to push that idea.
How can we have more Memlings?
The triptych of Saint John the Baptist and the Evangelist by Memling.
How can we have more of these artworks in our era?
Is it because we're too production focused, too circulation focused?
Because that is how the world works today.
I'm curious to hear your thoughts and I look forward to an always interesting discussion in the comment section.
Everyone who is interested in more contemporary art.
I very much welcome you to contemporaryartissuecom, where we have an online magazine and also an arts education section dedicated to industry-approved advice for artists.
Thank you so much for tuning in today.
Feel free to watch our video on the history of text-based art next.
Support us on Patreon and please consider subscribing to stay posted for more contemporary art.
Bye.
