Is it possible to compare contemporary and primitive art? Art of the primitive world

It's no secret that the art of our days often causes ordinary people who are not particularly familiar with art history, a lot of bewilderment and even indignation. Of course, if you compare modern paintings with Raphael or Aivazovsky, the difference will be obvious, and the sculpture of today has very little to do with the antique.

Nevertheless, modern art has a number of its features, and even merits, which simply need to be understood.

Culture of our time

If you pay more attention to the cultural process of our days, you can see that it is significantly different from what we are used to seeing. If the canvases and sculptures of exhibitions of the world's leading museums are original and beautiful in themselves, then almost all contemporary art requires some explanation, addition.

In this case, we mean the fact that almost any work of our time requires a presentation, an explanation of the concept, the basic principle underlying. This art is performative in the first place.

The art and man of today

Before embarking on a comparative description, it is necessary to determine what is the attitude of today's man to various kinds of art. It's no secret that for most of the population classical art has become a kind of a sign of good tone. In this case, we mean that the ability to distinguish the work of Rubens from the work of Brueghel is necessary for mankind not for enjoyment, but for assigning himself to a certain class, no matter how strange it may sound.

Art in the life of modern man began to perform the function of a marker of culture, selectivity and elitism. Of course, in this case it is impossible to talk about the absolute number, but in the majority of cases the attitude to the cultural heritage is exactly this.

As for contemporary art, in this case people are divided into two camps: the categorical opponents of this kind of creativity and supporters, in whom it is admired. The newest art in the life of modern man often becomes incomprehensible, rather than enthralling.

As already mentioned, the last works relating to art require description. Let's try to figure out what is the peculiarity of modern creativity.

Secrets of Modern Art

If you pay closer attention to the works of modernity, you can easily find some regularities. For example, the fact that today's creations are basically minimalistic and even somewhat negligent. Sometimes it creates the impression that an artist or a sculptor did not make much effort. Also the creativity of contemporary authors definitely gravitates towards simplicity and even primitivism.

A person more or less familiar with the cultural process will definitely recall something, namely the art of primitive man (if, of course, this can be called art to the fullest). However, more on this later.

Before you know whether it is possible to compare modern and primitive art, you should place all the points above the "i" in the matter of intentional primitivization. It is necessary to ask only one question: "For what it is, in fact, necessary?"

And this is necessary in order that as many senses as possible can be embedded in a concrete image. If in classical aesthetics an object carries in itself only one concept, under which it is directly executed, then modern and primitive art work differently. Remember only the famous "Black Square" by Malevich - how many interpretations of this phenomenon exist?

The simpler the image, the more likely it is to fill it with numerous meanings. And now let us turn to the art of our distant ancestors to find out whether modern and primitive art can be compared.

Peculiarities of creativity of primitive

First of all, it should be noted that what, thanks to the efforts of archaeologists has reached our days, is not fully art. Various rock paintings, dishes, ornaments and so on - did not initially represent absolutely no value. They had a completely different order of significance, namely the sacral. All the art of the primitive world was directed not to beauty, but to the mystery, unity with nature, the ability to defeat it.

Of course, this is what gave rise to the development of aestheticism in the life of mankind. Nevertheless, if we list the types of primitive art, its practical value becomes more obvious.

What was the art of primitive people

First of all, these are, of course, animal images. Of course, the primitive man did not depict mammoths or tigers in order to capture the splendor of nature and the grace of these wonderful animals. The thing is that by image (or modeling, which clearly describes the hypothesis of mock-ups), a primitive man in some way hoped to take away from the animal, on which he hunted, its strength. On the other hand, the same actions are also connected with the rudiments of totemism-the belief according to which the genus is based on one or another animal, however, this meaning of the image of animals was received much later.

As for the pottery found in the process of excavation, and especially decorated with various ornaments, in this case it is also about the sacred, magical meaning of the things depicted. On simple decoration in this case it was not.

More late versions also could mean the belonging of objects to the specific genus or territory on which they were made.

Similarities with modernity

Is it possible to compare contemporary and primitive art? The answer is yes. Can. To compare, in fact, you can do anything, and even more so those phenomena that do have certain points of intersection.

First of all, this, of course, is primitive and minimal in execution. Whatever one may say, almost all contemporary art is exactly such that it gives the prerequisites for comparison.

In addition, as mentioned earlier, it is conceptually inherently and without its introduction into the context, without its explanation, loses its value.

Finally, it should be noted that, of course, today's creators, of course, rely on the experience of distant ancestors, in many ways imitate them. Moreover, quite a lot of works of art, beginning with such a direction as abstract art, are drawn and based precisely on the art of primitive art.

Cardinal differences

So, after we found out whether it is possible to compare modern and primitive art on the basis of their common features, let us pay attention to notable differences.

First of all, it is worth paying attention to the fact that the art of a man who existed at the dawn of time had a very specific direction and did not allow any other interpretations, had no other meanings while contemporary art is completely subordinated to the will of the beholder and the clarifier.

In addition, primitive art was aimed at bringing practical benefit while today's creations exist for themselves or for expressing an idea. This art is speaking, performative, shocking.

Thus, we can say that there are definitely some similarities between primitive and modern art, but there are no less significant differences.