Ba Ba Black Sheep... Have You A Mind Of Your Own?

What does this look like to you? 

If you say a beautiful piece of art then this post may not be for you.  I won't take it personally, and I trust that you will react similarly to my opinion.

The first week of February my design-mates and I headed out on the open highway in search of inspiration in the form of New York City. During this trip I witnessed many things, mostly people and how they interact with each other, but I also paid a visit to some artistic museums.  One such museum was The MOMA (museum of modern art).  Here I was faced with one of the most difficult questions to answer in the artistic world. 

Is this art?

The above black square is one such 'piece of art' that I saw.  And, was perhaps the most important one, as it is the one I have been fixated on for the past month. 

The problem most people (artists included) have with modern art is that it can be very hard to define and also very hard to understand.  Since there was a painting of a black square hanging in The MOMA some might think that by default it automatically takes the question away. 

Well if The MOMA thinks that it is art, I should as well. Right?

Wrong. I can not in good conscience call a black square art. 

And, as my friend and I sat on a bench and contemplated whether or not three different coloured rectangles painted with rollers on a giant canvas could pass as art I was struck with a notion. 

People are sheep.  And, in my highly imaginative brain, the room in The MOMA that showcased the black square turned into a petting zoo. 

I like to be optimistic when it comes to modern art.  I don’t want you to misinterpret this post because there are many modern artists that I love.  Some of them include Bauhaus and Jackson Pollock.  So in some cases and with the right context behind it, I can truly love modern art. 

But this was just a black square.

Yet, despite its innate lack of ‘artistic-ness’, it was one of the most popular paintings at the time when my friend and I walked through that room in The MOMA.  There were more people surrounding that black square than any other painting we had seen, and I couldn’t help but raise the point that the multitudes of people standing by and staring at this black square were nothing more than sheep. 

It is human nature to want to be normal, to want to blend in with the crowd.  But I could only imagine that all of these people were standing there looking so intensely at this black square simply because someone else was and they didn't want to openly disagree with the paintings importance.  I stood back, putting as much effort into interpreting the sheep as the sheep were putting into interpreting the black square.  In my mind I could hear their conversation. 

“It must represent death.” One would say. The sheep would non in unison.

“It is a depiction of the emptiness in the depressed soul.” Nodding sheep.

“It is the universe, ever expanding outward.” Nodding sheep. 

The black square succeeded in one aspect.  It made me think about the black square.  Which I suppose is why it was in The MOMA in the first place.

Just thinking outside of the proverbial black square, Nicole.

Post Scriptum,

My father is not an overly artistic man, but he has never been more right than when I was in the ninth grade.  I was furiously working on a paper for my English class, struggling to find the right words, to say exactly what I wanted to say when he told me; “You can stop worrying about it.  It is just a paper.  Write whatever comes to mind.

"Bullshit baffles brains."And I can't help but think that he is right again. 

The black square is bullshit. And the brainless sheep are baffled.

Still, I refrained from posting this immediately. 

I wanted to look into every possible meaning of the black square before I slandered it in a blog post that no one but myself will ever read.   It is a possibility that the painters’ intention with the black square was to have a crowd of sheep surrounding his work in utter confusion.  If this is the case I am still reluctant to call it art, but I will call the painter an artist. 

 

Just thinking out-loud, Nicole.