I always wondered this… I mean, sure the Woman From Willendorf is supposed to be a little fertility statue, but come on, all those historians and archeologists can’t tell me they didn’t have dirty sculptures and cave paintings back in the day. And any scholar of the art histories could confirm there’s a lot of stuff out there that’s a bit on the raunchy side… from every time period in every country. Now that I think about it, I don’t remember them ever going over that subject in my history classes… maybe it’s for the history majors, idk. >)
Actually… I wonder how much of what we think is art history is even accurate! I mean, who knows, all those statues from ancient Greece could just be mannequins and paintings of old just clever advertisements. And we only really get to see the styles of the people that got popular and not all the little no-names running about. I’d be interested to see the stuff that Joe Shmoe from the Renaissance did in his little corner gallery. Just look at the art that’s out now… what’s the big new pop art movement that we currently have? What will be remembered? And will it even be remembered for it’s original purpose or intent? Who knows, but maybe when they dig up our civilization from the ruins, our distant kin will think Hustler magazine was the epitome of our artistic creations. Ha! Or who knows… Maybe they’ll find some Coffin Comics under a little rubble and hold it up as a masterpiece of 21st century art! Mwahahahaha!!! Hey! A guy can dream! >D
I don’t know much about art history, certainly not enough to speculate; but considering things that are known about certain eras, such as all the time when a women showing off an ankle was a floozy, I think I can safely assert that what was under the clothing was hardly a secret at the time.
As for the future, I hope that future generations watch nonsense like nyan cat, bed intruder, and yes, the lolcats and company and have to remember it for some test. If we’re lucky, maybe while we’re alive to see it! I can imagine grandkids coming over and asking, “People watched that; and liked it? ‘Da heck is wrong with you?”
oh… believe me, there’s a lot they don’t show you in history class! they were a dirty bunch all throughout history! seems like a shame it’s not covered as well since it’s such a prevalent thing…
yeah, I’m just afraid it’s going to be something dumb like that… like, we study all types of art “movements”, but you can’t tell me they didn’t have just as many forms and styles as we do today, rather, one schmuck just got popular and gets stuck in history books for all time.
My bro is studying history and you’d be surprised that the Greek were doing in the subject. There are volumes already written on that ;D Dunno about Lascaux and other places, but a few thousand years back pron was at its finest
actually no… there’s not a lot about those greeks that’d surprise me! lol!!! XD
it really is true that nothing has changed! people were then just like they are now. I had a friend who studied classical latin comedy and he said most of their jokes were basically the same; politics, sex, etc…
I know there is some arguement against this, but I would consider this generation’s art movement to be “digital”. Be it CGI movies, web comics, video games, advertisement, or whatever, it is really the biggest area where art is being pioneered these days. It may not be a specific style like many movements are related to, but it certainly has a common ground.
I think you’d be absolutely correct about that one! in just a short period of time, it rose up as probably the most widely used mediums in the world. heck, I remember when I did wedding photography that we had to switch from film to digital.
and probably the biggest flag that would make your claim true… is that it is looked down upon by the muckety muck art communities!! seems that many movements were pretty hated when they first came out.
yeah, it might not be a specific type (painting, photo, etc) but a pixel jockey is a pixel jockey… it’s all the same to photoshop… so yeah, at it’s basics, you could easily boil down the entire “movement” to be the “digital era”.
good observation!
And anyone saying that digital art is somehow a “lesser “kind of art had better remember Sturgeon’s Law. Photoshop, Poser, and such are like any non-digital medium — anyone can use them, but not everyone can be good at them. The fact that it’s created on the computer simply makes it easier for the not-so-good works to be widely shared. :-)
(I’ve seen enough 3D-rendered art to notice parallels with photography and drawing/painting, especially with how much lighting and scene composition can matter.)
well said Aaron!
the thing that makes me curious is - we’ve got cave paintings and the dead sea scrolls, but I’ve got CDs and floppies from ten years ago that can’t be read. What, of what’s currently being produced, is going to be readable in a hundred years? How is anything being preserved for anyone to even be slightly curious about?
Though I admit I’d love to see Longcat or Dr Tinycat on a test a few generations from now ;)
problem with CDs is that they won’t last forever. in fact, the lifespan of a CD is about 10 years!! very short! heck, even if you printed up your artworks and photos, printer paper/photo paper is only color fast to about 100 years, after that, fade to white…
seems that the more technologically advanced we get, the more impermanent our works become. I’d wonder how much of our society would be left to unearth if it was buried under rubble for 1000… 2000 or more years. just think about that. it seems long, but we’ve found things 10 times that age that are extremely well preserved. but who knows, maybe the ancient egyptians had CDs too… but they dissolved away…
it’s kind of troubling to me. not sure why, but I have a major problem with impermanence. not so much that I care for material things, but more so for legacy. I worry what we can leave behind to show the world of our future we were here. well, obviously we were here, but like give them an idea about the richness of our society. I mean, how will they ever know about the lolcats if nothing will make it past 100yrs? maybe we should etch some of the memes into stone for safe keeping, huh?
I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks this could be the true history of a lot of the “artwork” we find from forgotten civilizations.
I mean seriously, the only reason these pieces were preserved is because they were buried away, or as the process is more formally known, hidden.
hahaha, man, just think what they’ll say about us in 1000 years! “the modern man of the 21st century enjoyed photographic artworks celebrating the human bodies. Often, they were viewed in periodical collections, some containing larger fold out artworks. Because of the precious nature of these works, they were stored under the places they slept, so that they could be properly guarded. Studies also suggest that ointment was kept in close proximity to these collections of art, as part of some yet unknown ritual, perhaps to summon the rain demons to hydrate their crops.”
or something like that…