ART
Art cannot be dismissed quickly - it is not true that artists are naïve and die young. There are many old artists and the understanding of art is quite complicated. One conundrum to think about is whether art reflects nature or nature reflects art, that is, human works of art.
Generally speaking, modernity does not reject realism but art always reframes it. Modernity, or modern art, however, is often misunderstood. Modernity refers primarily to symbolism, that is, in film, music, paintings, etc. Symbolism is the internal meanings attributed to what we perceive or what we envision in our minds!
Classical art is about realism, painting and writing as if it is real. The Classical art of the 16-17th centuries for example were paintings that were like photographs! Modernity is composed of 3 aspects: realism, representation and abstraction. The key issue is meaning, and involves contexts. Realism contains some meaning but it conceals too much and is either the artists perspective or a replication of the subjects painted and written. With representation, different perspectives are contrasted and with abstraction inner and external meanings are juxtaposed. So to think art is to consider quite a few concepts at the same time.
Rock and roll is very materialistic music with limited sound sources and strong similarities between the beat, the melody and the lead, there is also always a riff in every song. But, the lyrics supply the meaning unlike classical music where the shift in tone, volume, and instrument combinations, and solo or combinations of highly skilled displays produce affective meanings or feeling.
Classical music underwent a significant change in the early 1900's when a modernist effect emerged; the tones and sounds in classical modernist music attempted to more clearly imitate strong emotion of fear and fright. Later in the century, Rock and Roll emerged as a return to realist elements in feelings and representation. Only opera comes close to lyrical meaning which has a story line. Rock and roll almost always involves a love-sex angle, a realist perspective.
Rock and Pop might be considered as ‘neorealist’ as a transformation of blues and gospel with some classical elements. The abstract nature, subtlety, of classical music and ‘pop’ involve following codes where certain sounds and words have common meanings which desubjectivizes the meaning - integrates the individual into a social frame - but there is no substitute for reading the lyrics! One complaint about the feelings related to music from the modernist eruption to jazz and blues, and through Rock and Pop was the strong beat from the base and drums.
Rock and Pop is a driving pressure of desire and sexuality but involves the conventional processes of dating/marriage and breaking up/divorce or separation. Two poles are falling in love and breaking up/cheating! The Romanticism in modern music is quite evident.
The media, sometimes called the culture industry of music, movies, novels/stories, ads, shows of all kinds is considered to be a very contradictory force increasing consumerism and population density which stresses everyone out.
But, the one rule of this cultural effect is ‘be vulgar’ to show that you are “normal” which is a great way to overproduce mental illness and jack up the crime stats.
Art is often used as the ‘performing’ aspect of cultural identity. For example, art is often thought of in barely materialist forms as texts and images, eg books, films and digital forms. But more materialist forms of art like fashion (consider jerseys, shoes, dresses and suits), architecture of houses and public buildings, and cars are deeply involved in identity formation especially with regard to citizenship and national experience - these objects resonate with national politics more than ceremonies and beliefs!
Art has the effect of deindividuating people and dedifferentiating the social situation. Art serves as a frame cohering everyone under its theme.
Art as a performance in the making and in the art object/product affects identity and experience. The issue is whether the markets for art objects shape national identity. Notice how “tactical gear” as fashionable clothing resonates with nationalist jingoism.
However what is more incisive is that these material expressions affect individuals and the ideology of individualism is what is a paradoxical effect of drawing boundaries around national identities, eg party affiliation, left or right wing resonance, generation gap, social status, type of capital being externalized, eg economic, cultural, social, human, etc.
