Modern Art and the Audience

Perhaps because the standard for evaluation in modern art is that it be "new," the modern artist finds a great diversity of venues and opportunities for expression.

Painters, sculptors, digital artists, filmmakers, musicians, and performance artists (among still others) are freed from an objective standard of beauty or quality for their work. Combined with an explosion of media and performance venues, modern artists are afforded many platforms for their expressive works.

The diversity of expression and venue creates an interesting dilemma for the modern art audience. On one hand, audience members may judge artistic creations by the timeless standards of beauty, harmony, and design. On the other hand, the very nature of modern art is to be "new" and to shun traditional standards.

The result is an individualized standard of quality that tends to relate to the audience member's personal taste and priorities. As always, the influence of peers, experts, and media commentators exerts itself on individual choices. However, after 120 years of "modern" art, the artist's freedom of expression is almost absolute, and the audience member's freedom of choice is correspondingly  varied.