Prager U On Modern Art | Fascism?

For other segments: / germinalanarchy
A viewer recommended that I watch a video by PragerU where they comment on modern art. Being known as a more right-leaning youtube channel, I decided I would react to their video. We will take a look at some known paintings, from The Raft of the Medusa painted by Géricault, to some of Bouguereau's Realist paintings. What does PragerU like? What do they think they want in art? Is their commentary valid? As always, I'm live on KZbin every sunday at 2pm EST/11am PST.
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#arthistory #art #modernart

[@alf8151]

Reminds me of a Picasso quote “It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.”

[@jmiquelmb]

That was very presumptuous from Picasso though, I'm pretty sure he didn't paint like Raphael after four years of training. In fact, he probably couldn't emulate Raphael's craft at any point in life. Raphael was Raphael, and Picasso was Picasso

[@kozy15x]

UGH.. stop.

[@StephenS-2024]

" People will say I said shit I never said!" - a famous person quoted obtusely

[@GrimSqueaker]

I had this exact same thought during the figure skating bit. If a fucking MASTER figure skater came out and threw himself around on the ice it could possibly be a very profound statement. It may still score badly within the confins of a competition - but that is neither here nor there with regards to artistic value

[@GrimSqueaker]

​@@jmiquelmb eh... have you seen his childhood paintings? The one he made his sister for her confirmation is particularly mind blowing in my opinion

[@ronoc9]

I saw a similar video that featured a PragerU tweet that was something along the lines "why can't we have Renaissance art again" and I just thought "aren't you guys completely against the idea of taxes paying for someone's education, nevermind the idea of someone spending the next thirty years of their life to art?"

[@Soundbrigade]

But Renaissance art is being banned in Florida because it is too …. “realistic”.😅

[@ambmamb8370]

i mean- maybe we had a chance at architecture again that isnt proven to increase suicide rates in its surroundings

[@brunoactis1104]

What do you mean by thirty years? Like a painting taking 30 years to make? Or dedicating 30 years of your life to art? Neither is true really, artists dedicate a lifetime to art, and not even reinassance paintings take 30 years to make. Either way, right leaning americans tent to be of the idea that you should do whatever the fuck you want as long as you harm no one. Dumbass european or latin american conservatives are more like you are implying, but dumbass american conservatives are libertarian.

[@Siegfried5846]

They are wrong about taxes, but right about art. The government should cut all funding to modern art and put it into traditional Western art. If you think that's bad, then ask yourself why doing the opposite was okay.

[@ikkikita9665]

Ah, a Fascist. Fancy seeing you hear! Seems there are more and more of you these days...

[@Jm-ki4su]

Dennis prager: you have to fight him in the arby's bathroom to unlock your true artistic potential

[@stagvelvet]

I'm okay with that.

[@PotatoPatatoVonSpudsworth]

I read this as "autistic potential" and immediately accepted it.

[@Lunch_Meat]

I don't know what the worst part of this is; that I have to fight someone in a bathroom, that it HAS to be in an ARBY'S bathroom, or the fact that it's Dennis "the menace" Prager that I gotta fight.

[@ahobimo732]

Challenge accepted

[@hurdygurdyguy1]

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂👍👍👍👍

[@helwing01]

I used to not like modern art, but after studying a bit of its history and its intentions, as well as the philosophical basis I began to slowly respect it. You and other art channels have certainly made that happen. Thanks, man!

[@BlackTestament]

i grew a newfound respect for modern art after watching Jacob Geller’s video called “Who’s Afriad of Modern Art” genuinely fantastic video Link to the video cause i love Jacob: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rGanoqCKqaiDn7M

[@Narokkurai]

Same! I think the real problem with modern/contemporary art is it's all part of a conversation that artists have largely been having in private for generations. From the outside it seems senseless, but you don't need too much context to "get it". There's still a lot of modern art that I don't like, but I don't think it's "not art", it's just not for my taste.

[@tjenadonn6158]

​@@Narokkurai In a way a similar thing happens in the world of music. A lot of music that falls under the label of "contemporary classical" gets a bad rap, but that's largely because it's dealing with ideas that haven't broken into the popular consciousness yet. Ideas like microtonality, drones, noise as music, and phasing occasionally enter pop culture in niche ways via genres like trance or dubstep or acts like King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard and Sonic Youth, but for the most part most people's awareness of what classical music "should" sound like stops at the middle-Romantic composers like Mahler, Tchaikovsky, and Verdi, with some room made for the French Impressionists like Ravel, Debussy, and Satie if theyre feeling adventurous. Save for a few breakouts like Philip Glass almost any orchestral score to any Hollywood movie is basically going to be a pastiche of Romanticism or Neo-Romanticism. If you just give it time however, learn the language so to speak, I honestly find they the newer stuff can be far more rewarding than the Romantic period: in particular the 20th century and later saw the rose of unaccompanied percussion as it's own musical idiom, with works like Edgard Varese's "Ionisation," Iannis Xenakis' "Pleiades," Steve Reich's "Drumming," and Frank Zappa's "The Black Page" finally giving virtuoso percussionists their time in the spotlight.

[@hurdygurdyguy1]

There's a lot of Modern Art I enjoy and appreciate, there's a lot I don't like, but even what I don't care for I respect...

[@cortanathelawless1848]

It tought me one important thing: I don't have to like something to still appreciate certain aspects or something and to respect good art even when it's absolutely not to my taste

[@vwabi]

For me the most disagreeable thing about PragerU's position, is the idea that the best artists don't need creativity, they just need to do what everyone else is doing, but slightly better. You can be the best ice skater by simply looking at what other ice skaters are doing, training for years, and doing it slightly better than them. Which for ice skating is valid since it's a sport, but for art is just ... boring.

[@NameName-gl9cw]

One thing that occurred to me in the first part of the video is that pragerU seems to evaluate art through a very capitalist lense(suprising i know). In doing so, this treats art like any other product on the market in that to "succeed at art"(bussiness) you just need to be making the exactly the same thing as the person before you(business competitor) but with slight "improvements" (added consumer value). It's this kind of horrid notion that artworks(and by extension artists) compete with each other rather than talk with or engage each other.

[@bastardacademic]

They want conformity to a single idea, and a single idea of beauty - they will accept no deviance. Monodominant culture enforced by people who could never meet the ideals the set and espouse on people who will be destroyed by it.

[@claesvanoldenphatt9972]

It’s just boring for ice skating too. Technique can only take you slightly beyond your antecedent. Creativity has little directly to do with technique, it requires new ways of thinking.

[@nairsheasterling9457]

In fact, this idea is the very thing that people are kinda complaining about major film, TV, streaming, music, and publishing industries for doing to some extent when calling something a "blatant cash grab" like the Disney remakes. And we all know Dennis doesn't love this music or movies and points to this as "signs of the decline of the West." Almost like fascism (and other forms of totalitarianism like Oligarchical Collectivism) requires doublethink and doublespeak to function and Dennis is a master of it. Also, this kinda framing helps explain why right-wingers tend to really suck at making art of any kind.

[@SeasideDetective2]

While I'd agree with Prager that a great deal of "modern" art is too formalistic to communicate meaning effectively, it still can be VERY enjoyable to look at. Something doesn't have to be meaningful to be beautiful.

[@glennlavertu3644]

"If the product doesn't sell, it won't be made." Right. Because that's what artists do exclusively, as opposed to making art to SAY SOMETHING.

[@tjenadonn6158]

Also if we're judging what is good art by what art sells well I guess that means Thomas Kincaid is a better painter than Andrei Rublev, Michael Bay is a better director than Andrei Tarkovsky, E. L. James is a better author than Leo Tolstoy, and Katy Perry is a better composer than Igor Stravinsky. Pardon the Russian fixation, I got stuck in an Andrei rut for the first two.

[@patrickhaynes3090]

Hehe, NFTs *are* degenerate.

[@maestroicarodecarvalho3947]

​@@tjenadonn6158 the russians sure are great!

[@Pensnmusic]

If it doesn't sell, it doesn't please the wealthy. You're only allowed to do what the powerful want you to do. It's very simple.

[@avedic]

You have to bear in mind....PragerU and people like them....don't actually like art. They like money. Art that makes money? They like it....because they like money. That's literally it. And power. Money and power. But money buys power. So just money.

[@tjenadonn6158]

Coming from a more musical background it's interesting to note how the music that is considered "degenerate" is so often closely associated with the music that also gets labelled as degenerate. Luigi Russolo, who is often considered the founder of noise music, was also a painter associated with the Italian Futurists. The Dadaist sculptor and artist Kurt Schwitters also composed "sound poetry:" poetry with no real semantic meaning consisting entirely of rhythmically arranged sounds akin to scatting without a melody that blurs the line between poetry and music: his Merzbau installations would, decades later, inspire the legendary Japanese harsh noise musician Masami Akita to work under the name Merzbow. Of course jazz age art movements like Art Deco and abstract expressionism are heavily associated with jazz music, always a target of those who see the "Decline of Western Civilization™" everywhere. Jean-Michel Basquiat, Kieth Haring, and other graffiti and graffiti-inspired artists came up around and were intertwined with the nascent hip hop scene. Just as digital art tools are accused of being cheating so to were electronic instruments going all the way back to things like the Fairlight CMI, the Synklavier, the LinnDrum, and even the original Moog and Buchla modular synthesizers.

[@gur262]

Hmmm. I don't like the word at all though i know that most use it very casually ( not Prager. He's Jewish allright. He's still evil and basically a neonazi as funny as that sounds. See what Prager u posts on Twitter on holocaust day etc)but. The Nazis meant kinda all jazz? As far as I get it. All black music American music. So. Not so tied.

[@morganhess6876]

You're just wherever the good shit is, huh? And a fellow esparantist, to boot! A salute, comrade.

[@SeanMakel-mh3lj]

With Basquiat, don't forget punk rock

[@bulbous123]

"coming from a musical backround it's interesting to note" *seinfeld music kicks in*

[@Siegfried5846]

You have an antiwhite terror group in your profile picture.

[@radicalpaddyo]

I saw "PragerU" and got the popcorn out....I was 100 percent sure he would be channeling the ghost of Adolf Hitler to inform his art critique and I was not disappointed!

[@grimtheghastly8878]

He's radiating Hitler particles

[@patdainel9037]

You know he’s Jewish right?

[@jimgross1464]

​@@patdainel9037 we're not talking about Hitler's antisemitism, but his opinions on art, which Prager is a perfect copy of.

[@miskatonic_alumni]

​@@patdainel9037 Look up Dan Burros.

[@Ibrahim-wq8cf]

@@patdainel9037 European jews in 2023 can agree with a Nazi from 1940 about the topic of non-Europeans. Think Palestanians

[@ard4461]

These people who complain about 'modern art' arent involved in the art scene at all. If they saw the gorgeous and inventive work artists are producing every day they wouldn't be saying all this crap about how nobody creates anything beautiful anymore and art's been "ruined". All they do is pick one enigmatic/controversial piece, rob it of its context and claim that it represents all art now and that's why society's falling apart.

[@mibuch5464]

It’s like when people say jazz or rock music are dead, but they really haven’t looked for anything recent in those genres. There’s always great art of any medium and genre, people just gotta look a little harder to find it.

[@DragonOnCoke7299]

You're completely wrong on that front because I'm an artist myself who likes to draw dragons and I think "modern art" for the most part is not talented nor meaningful. In fact quite a few other artists I know share the same sentiment

[@dennisduncan7561]

These clods already have a preconceived notion of what they think aesthetically pleasing art is but don't extend that to newer art. You notice they don't mention Andy Warhol or Horace Pippin.

[@dennisduncan7561]

Totally agree. I think they see art as more an investment than something to meant to say something.

[@omgkthxbi]

@@DragonOnCoke7299 what is the point of drawing dragons though

[@starsh1nachan252]

Let me take a wild guess before watching: PragerU will hate on impressionists and will forget about whole Eastern Europe painting school. Update: I should go to some predictor competition one day.

[@suezuccati304]

Let's just get to the crux of the argument: they want art that's completely uncontroversial. Anything that disrupts the status quo is bad.

[@logicboard7746]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/mHScfXRsa76spacfeature=shared

[@dkdcnone5771]

Modern art is the status quo though. Can you explain a little better by what you mean please?

[@Siegfried5846]

You are a fool if you think that modern art is controversial.

[@jboydayz]

🤓

[@jboydayz]

Modern art is just crap mate

[@claudemadrid4950]

Let's be clear about the fact that most modern artists loved the classical artists like Rembrandt or Vermeer even more than the nazis liked these classical painters 😀... For instance, Picasso was a big "fan" of Velasquez and Ingres... the difference between modern artists and the nazis is that the modern artists understood what the classical painters were doing 😀... and they also understood that after the invention of photography, painting had to look for something else than simply trying to copy the external appearance of reality. 😀

[@psyche1988]

Except that even a "realistic" painting is not just trying to copy reality, it's a representation and the artistic choices are still there. Isn't Magritte's The treachery of images about this very thing, that images are not reality but a representation of it ? This camera argument is like a dead horse and you people keep beating it over and over again...

[@claudemadrid4950]

@@psyche1988 Are you tellng me that Magritte is an example of "realism" ? 😀😀😀Oh, man, what a joke. 😀

[@claudemadrid4950]

@@psyche1988 Have you ever read a book called "Fra Angelico : Dissemblance et figuration" by the French art critic Georges Didi-Huberman ? 😀

[@jmiquelmb]

It's also interesting how many of the big name classics engaged in what later would become modern art. Velazquez made a proto impressionist painting that is incredible, Villa Medici. Goya was also forward thinking, his black paintings are clearly not what Prager would call "beauty". And Goya's Dog Drowning was so advanced to its time that it could have been painted in 1930 rather than 1820. I'm not the biggest fan of art that leans toward abstraction, but this dog is just an incredible piece of art history.

[@claudemadrid4950]

@@jmiquelmb Yes, Athena, Goya's "Saturn" was, for the nazis to like it , too much looking like what they were doing to the rest of humanity 😀... and you must not take my initial comment as a justification of "abstract art" because, like you, I'm not the biggest fan of what is called "abstraction" 😀... I was talking about the freedom of representation that doesn't have to be looking like a photographic reproduction 😀... like the howl on the picture of your YT profile can definitely be recognized as a howl... but definitely does not look like a photograph of any real howl on the planet.😀

[@stagvelvet]

Go with me here: the impressionists...as punks. Degas in a battle jacket and full mohawk painting his ballerinas.

[@tjenadonn6158]

I mean a lot of the post-impressionists were full on anarchists in the legit Kropotkin and Bakunin sense, so they'd probably get on better with punks most people.

[@BLMacab]

@@tjenadonn6158 doubt, punks love big government

[@maestroicarodecarvalho3947]

​@@BLMacab you really really dont know any anarchists, do you? Punks are anarchists.

[@brendanbloomberg3283]

@@BLMacab it depends on the "punk".

[@BLMacab]

@@brendanbloomberg3283 100% of punks i encountered hate when republicans end a regulation and 90% supported bernie sanders who loves police protection

[@galenteschendorf9429]

David is more than beauty. His expression and posture add potential meaning to be interpreted. Most David sculptures were him post battle. Michelangelo's choice of scene has meaning in itself.

[@Enirahtak8]

Completely agree here! I've also argued here that The Birth of Venus has *far* more value to it than just its beauty. I would, in fact, argue that beauty is by far the least interesting thing to discuss in terms of many Renaissance/older Western art pieces/sculpture!

[@galenteschendorf9429]

@Enirahtak8 I don't know what to say about the Birth of Venus. I don't find it beautiful or aesthetically pleasing, so I found it interesting that it was used as an example. I do agree that there is more meaning to Birth of Venus than pure aesthetic. Knowing the context of its creation would probably go a long way to helping me appreciate it.

[@Enirahtak8]

@@galenteschendorf9429 Fair, the painting is not for everyone. I'll copy and past the relevant bit of my comment for the interesting and relevant context of the Birth of Venus for clarify: "The Birth of Venus was not appreciated by a wider audience when it was made and it very much did not fit in with the standards at the time. While most Northern Italian artists were expected to stick to Christian topics, or else the portraits of their wealthy patrons, Sandro Botticelli was one of the first artists of his generation to incorporate so much from Pagan Greek and Roman mythology into his paintings. These paintings would have been considered pretty darn heretical by your average Tuscany Joe/Jo/Jojo/whatever, meaning that he was only able to make them for specific patrons. Specifically, the Birth of Venus, as is generally accepted by most art historians, was commissioned by the Medici family for their Villa de Castello, very much for private viewing. The Medici family were known at the time to encourage the 'modernisation' of art, by commissioning paintings of styles that were very much in vogue in certain artistic circles, rather than the more traditional Catholic/rich patron paintings which most people would have been more accustomed to. Sandro Botticelli in fact likely regretted painting The Birth of Venus later in life, due to the influence of a hyper-Catholic Girolama Savonarola, an extremist nutjob who encouraged the destruction, including burning, of secular art, or at least anything that was slightly 'Pagan'. Sandro Botticelli stuck entirely to Catholic/non-Pagan art later in life, it is likely that he bought into a lot of Savonarola's ideals, unfortunately."

[@sweetykitty4427]

@@Enirahtak8 thank you for this, the parts of the video where mr canvas talks about how the classics are very beautiful but don't invite deep discussion/ could not keep you talking all night are a really disagreeable part of the video

[@Enirahtak8]

@@sweetykitty4427 Couldn't agree more!

[@glennlavertu3644]

I used to teach art history for a decade + and whenever I encountered this kind of mind-set/obstinance toward a particular movement or artist, I gave an assignment: "depict your feelings, not the outside world," and do it in the manner/technique of: Malevich geometry, Kandinsky's compositional space/color/shapes; Pollock drips etc etc. 9 Xs out of 10 it was convincing. Even if they still "didn't like" the art... they understood what was going on and could appreciate it. As for the opinions of this guy? Maybe he needs some brushes and some feelings.

[@theparagonal]

@@user-ke5md1ho8h Plenty of them are. Nazis weren't just evil zombies raised from hell. They were real people who had real opinions and real beliefs. Opinions can be wrong, and they can be fascist, or capitalist, or democratic, or whatever.

[@glennlavertu3644]

@@user-ke5md1ho8h no, but it can lead to fascistic beliefs.

[@DaviRenania]

Art is not only about feeling, it's about the aesthetic representation. Abstract Art usually needs a high level of abstraction, and hardly anyone have that, except highly creative people who tend to accept anything as cool; so what usually happens is bourgeois agreebleness pretending to like something. Also, another problem, Abstract Art, by definition leans toward Design and not Painting, as it is a representational art that needs to represent human condition by definition, which it lacks. Design, as it leans toward the useful it has to be abstract in most occasions. I don't have to mention dada is stupid, and wax spulptures are kitsch just like many 19th century academic painters.

[@DaviRenania]

​@@glennlavertu3644 btw, if calling modern art degenerate is fascistic, supporting labour laws is also fascistic. Lol. The fascists had a point in both.

[@glennlavertu3644]

@@DaviRenania the Nazis supported labor laws only in those instances where it effected their own kind, so I don't think your second statement holds true. The reason the Nazis called art "degenerate" was to easily denigrate an entire group of people as being the problem, that this "modernity" was the reason why common, "hard working" Germans were struggling and suffering in poverty. So these are false equivalents.

[@raoulduke6464]

I love how you're visibly upset but still the calmest dude on earth

[@Hypnos157]

Prager U There's no punchline, it's just funny the way it is

[@MysteryGeek2006]

It’s funnier to say it the second time😂

[@brendanbloomberg3283]

The Canvas Theres no punchline its just funny the way it is!

[@zetectic7968]

If you find yourself taking Prager U seriously, consult your local mental healthcare profession. They have no shame & so can talk out of their butts about so many things.

[@snowforest6487]

If you take a guy who can't go 2 seconds without calling something fascists without even listening to their arguments seriously you need help

[@Joshua-dc4un]

​@@snowforest6487 irrespective of what this guy says, if you take Prager u seriously you need help 😂

[@snowforest6487]

@@Joshua-dc4un me not taking this guy seriously doesn't mean I take pragr u seriously, I take ARGUMENTS seriously or not seriously not people making them, learn to do that buddy

[@Bobogdan258]

@@snowforest6487 1:30 He literally said he doesn't want to call PragerU fascist. He even said "how fascist is PragerU", the answer could've been 0%, but we've watched the full video and we can come the correct answer ourselves. He only said PragerU has made some pretty far right videos, which means he has seen PragerU's other videos and arguments beforehand, because who else hasn't already seen PragerU video as ads already.

[@finalcut612]

@@snowforest6487 he's literally deconstructing the whole video line by line. how is that not an argument.

[@gregorehorror]

I'm a Queer Trans Horror artist, and I make my work "ugly" to show the pain trans people go through in this world and how that can translate into art. The idea of only perfection and beauty in art is a privileged perspective

[@Li_Tobler]

hahahhahahahahaha

[@IsomerSoma]

Cudos to your art, but this "The idea of only perfection and beauty in art is a privileged perspective" is deluded.

[@NinthSettler]

@@IsomerSoma if you don't explain why your comment is wortless

[@IsomerSoma]

@@NinthSettler Thus OPs perspective is worthless too according to the very same logic. I don't know, but i am 100% certain (i don't think you'll contest this), that there are a artist who happen to be trans that focus on the beauty in life - it would be ridiculous to assume such don't exist. In general OPs statement makes no sense, but in one way only and its not about trans, but about depression. Her/ his delusion is the misattribution of a depressive state of mind seeing no other way to express oneself but in dark ways (which is totally legit) to so called lack of "privilege". If this is referring to mental health problems okay but if it refers to societal status absolutely no.

[@MrMild-sv7is]

They never bring up the impact that the camera had on the shift artists took away from realism, more to abstraction.

[@overlordofthepies]

One thing I often see overlooked if that they tout technical skill and ludicrously fail to spot it in modern art. Pollock had a fantastic understanding of his materials, Rego had excellent imaginative drawing skills, Twombly had some seriously good dexterity. I do see people arsing around without technical skill... but they don't last long, unless their ideas are really rigourous. It is a tough job!

[@Narokkurai]

For real. Pollock understood his materials, he understood composition, he understood color theory extremely well. So many of the most accomplished abstract artists were first successful as traditional artists, and transitioned to abstract art later as a way to express their raw artistic intuition and experience.

[@tjenadonn6158]

You can even see this among outsider artists who had little or no formal artistic training. The works of James Hampton and Henry Darger show a mastery of the limited and far from professional materials that they had at hand, and while they never trained as draftsmen or sculptors what shows in their work is a dedication to getting each detail precisely as they mean it to be by whatever means they can.

[@irock58]

This was my assumption. There are techniques and consistencies that are understood by those who study modern art. It’s not random noise. I don’t know the PragerU dude but to think he’s studied art is highly sus.

[@mshearn3198]

Also many artists who do abstract art can draw in the traditional sense, it's not a refuge for the untalented, no matter how you think.

[@omgkthxbi]

Modernists and "degenerate" artists tend to be art nerds who love art and critique and deconstruct it within their own works. Fascists (morons) hate that, I guess.

[@useless_name]

I very much agree with you on central points but I think you treated the classical works shown unfairly. The dying Gaul and the birth of Venus can still evoke a lot of stuff because of their richt historical backgrounds. They tell us a lot about the societies they were created in and are simply stunning to me. But the point is: They wouldn't be nearly as meaningful if created today because they wouldn't bring any new perspective to the table.

[@Enirahtak8]

Completely and utterly agree. There is *so much* to these pieces that most right-wing/nationalist/fascist people also overlook.

[@scarlett8960]

Really, for me, the discussion around classical art that is more interesting is the stories it tells. The David by Michelangelo isn't just a "pretty statue." It was commissioned to symbolize Florence and the political power it had at the time. It is interesting to compare that statue to the David by Donatello (which is also in a Florence museum), where the David is more like a child. Michelangelo's David is a strong man. It's the same with most classical works. How are they interpreting a story? (Either Greek/Roman mythology or the Catholic Church). It's said that some church leaders thought Botticelli's work on classical mythology was heretical, and he came under the influence of a preacher. There's a story he destroyed any non-Christian work. There can be other discussions. Medieval and Renaissance painters had to make all their own materials (no Michael's around the corner), and they had large studios of apprentices. But also, they weren't just making works of beauty. Their work was to please patrons who wanted art to convey messages. And their works at the time asked the question "what is art?" as much as modern art does. I like Modern Art a lot (although not everything). The questions it poses about art, our connections to materials today, our thoughts about what is right and proper are all interesting. If art disgusts or repulses you, it has done its job as much as a piece that makes you swoon with beauty.

[@Enirahtak8]

I'm so glad I'm not the only person who thought of this, or at least similar arguments! I do feel that this video lacks the nuances of these aspects of Renaissance/older Western art, unfortunately.

[@amby-mo3vk]

Beautifully written.

[@ashura7968]

In summary Praguer U perspective: art has to be something beautiful. Perspective of The Canvas: art is something beautiful, expressive, philosophical, existential, emotional, free and that carries an important message

[@Li_Tobler]

Praguer U perspective: art has to be something beautiful, meaningful, expressive, philosophical, existential, emotional Perspective of The Canvas: art doesn't have to be beautiful, MOST IMPORTANT is that it's not BoRiNg and sparks a 7 hours long "conversation"

[@ashura7968]

@@Li_Tobler If that were really Praguer U's perspective, they would try to look for some meaning or expression in conceptual, abstract, cubist, expressinist, existential and installation works, but Praguer U only cares about the look of the works and nothing else And let's face it, most Rococo art is boring, it's art without a message without expression, it's like candy without sugar

[@Li_Tobler]

@@ashura7968 if you don't see the message, doesn't mean that it's not there. It's literally the same argument that people dunking on "modern art" repeat all the time. For me as an artist myself, something done with such finesse and skill automatically is not boring; it has meaning AND is absolutely gorgeous and inspiring to look at, admiring every stroke and choice of color. For me personally, art has to be both meaningful and conventionally attractive, that's just how I roll

[@techwizpc4484]

Of course art has to be beautiful and meaningful. Would you listen to a singer who is out of tune? Or a drummer who has no rhythm? Or a dancer who has no cool moves to show? This is why mumble rap is a thing. Covid must have not only affected literal ability to taste but artistic taste too.

[@DustinDonald-cz9ot]

@@techwizpc4484 Or screamo the rock variation of mumble rap which are about as talented as Yuko Uno. My love is music and when I compare todays music with music from the 60's-90's you can go back and pick gold off the ground there is just so much good stuff there, now you got to dig and you sure as hell aren't finding much good music on the radio unless you are listening to a classics station. Many people like this older music as well including younger people I am a manager at a small store I play my music on the speakers and have seen literally dozens of people stop in their tracks and just listen to My Way by Sinatra, or people of all ages just jamming to The Beat Goes On by the whisperers, beauty seems to be a very universal thing.

[@eltecnopata5627]

I couldn't catch it since I had to do things on Sunday, but I'm glad that you reuploaded it :D It's going to be one hell of a podcast

[@BugzNBeanz]

The fascist desire to pursue beauty aesthetic through art over evoking an emotion or conversation has deep roots in Christian households. I grew up southern Baptist and was encouraged to only create beautiful art as it is a reflection of God’s creation. My grandpa who is a painter saw me drawing a violent comics as a kid and basically discouraged me from creating such destructive things. All the art of my childhood that was encouraged was landscapes, nude figures, self portraits and when I look back I was never inspired when I made art, I knew it was boring but I was told all my life that my skill as an artist was a god given ability. Now as an adult who has left my Christian upbringing I know now I was merely a copier not an artist. I don’t do art at all as I don’t have any creativity. The damage has been done.

[@Slim-Richard]

I go to art exhibitions a lot. And I have feeling that people who say modern art sucks, are simply not interested in art enough. For everyone saying renessance art is best I suggest to go to Italy and visit 2 or one big museum with renessance art and then go to modern one. Then you will see how much variety and ideas are there. If you still think “I could do that myself” then go for it!

[@hmnhntr]

I was a big pusher of the "I could do that myself!" criticisms for a lot of my life. My opinion was changed when my father pointed out to me, "You could do it, but you didn't think to, did you?"

[@brendanbloomberg3283]

Modern art sucks.....and I'm an artist.

[@brendanbloomberg3283]

Jackson Pollack was an alcholholic who had no message and some rich cunt wife thought his work was deep. I could do that myself but I dont know some rich dumb cunt.

[@bobbyboljaar7513]

Great artists use their creativity, genius and expression to create a work so personal, it becomes universal again and (almost) everyone feels it speaks to them personally.

[@brendanbloomberg3283]

But most people don't "feel" modern art.

[@freckleheckler6311]

@@brendanbloomberg3283that’s what these clueless “multiculturalists” who parrot “diversity” and “inclusion” don’t understand. That’s why they’re unable to understand whether something is degenerate or not (since they only use their Narcissistic relation to their art and are inconsiderate of the greater picture and narrative that someone else can relate to) but somehow understand why Art should be “inclusive” and based on foreign identity. They are a lost Marxist cause.

[@jan-tidobondzio3685]

Prager U try to be right about anything challenge (impossible)

[@adavis5926]

Thanks for the video! This discussion is at the heart of a historical novel I have just finished writing and am in the middle of editing. Thematically, my book focuses on the Nazi treatment of expressionism and expressionist artists vs Nazi aesthetics.

[@NameName-gl9cw]

One thing that occurred to me in the first part of the video is that pragerU seems to evaluate art through a very capitalist lense(suprising i know). In doing so, this treats art like any other product on the market in that to "succeed at art"(bussiness) you just need to be making the exactly the same thing as the person before you(business competitor) but with slight "improvements" (added consumer value). It's this kind of horrid notion that artworks(and by extension artists) compete with each other rather than talk with or engage each other.

[@newyardleysinclair9960]

Why are you on a phone, laptoo using the internet if capitalism is a dirty word. Grow up

[@v_nix]

One thing was striking - and typical for pragerU. They talk about universal standards (around timestamp 28:00) - but actually mean 'western' (mostly European) standards. That's maybe worth a video on its own? I would appreciate your reaction to it. Thanks for this video. It shows clearly in what way they're trying to make Americans look at art. It made me sad, but at least I know it now.

[@beabeaxoxoxo]

Great point! I see it as willful ignorance that they only discuss "western" art and its supposed standards.

[@freckleheckler6311]

@@beabeaxoxoxobecause we live under whose civilization? This isn’t complicated so don’t make. Yes we should align ourselves with western standards and not disguising degeneration as “inclusive”. Also western art IS superior. Finding exceptions outside are just that..

[@NIHIL_EGO]

@@freckleheckler6311 idk I find myself much more receptive to East Asian art than West European art in general. To each their, racist fuck.

[@MistaZULE]

50:37 god I love it. Using Capitalism to defeat art. Great idea Prager. Truly he is a titan of our time.

[@raggletaggle8827]

Loved this. You're so good at thinking on your feet and speaking on livestreams.

[@TheCuriousFinch]

This reminds me of when I went to a large art museum in Minnesota. My parents tagged along and spent the majority of the time vaguely criticizing the "childish" art. We walked past large seemingly empty canvases, but I was curious. They left into the historical section, but I couldn't look away. Something was so enchanting about this canvas. I paced back and forth in front of it, realizing that it glimmered like fish scales or pearls. And as I looked around the room, all the canvases glimmered in unison, like a school of silver fish. Like a flock of hummingbirds. The experience held infinitely more meaning to me than the intricate and glorious works of tumbling streams off mountains and large galley ships on tossing seas. I cannot even look at clamshells anymore without remembering that art piece. It changed me as a person, while my parents walked by untouched. I understand everyone views art differently, but if they had only given it a chance. A bit of patience and understanding to see what is hidden.

[@nerd26373]

We appreciate your analysis on this topic. Keep up the good work.

[@Kriae]

You should do more of these, as long as it doesn't impact the regular videos

[@michailalein]

loved listening to this while correcting exams... I really like how knowledgeable you are and I learn so much from your videos.

[@brendanbloomberg3283]

You're a teacher......jesus I feel bad for your students!

[@stephenmorton8017]

Face-ism is a little known offshoot of portraiture.

[@EqqusHearts]

As a naturalist I love Bierstadt’s work. However divorced from their historical context I can understand why people might find them boring but if you consider that those paintings were probably the only way some people ever got to see the Rockies in a time when photography was still in it’s infancy.

[@brendanbloomberg3283]

The skill is part of the beauty still today....a crucifix in urine is lazy and for morons.

[@nettwench]

It also depicted places that were considered unspoiled wilderness when America was not settled from coast to coast. It was the idealization of this country as a kind of promised land. The Hudson River School. Thomas Cole was more overt in his mythologizing of the US as a spiritual concept, imbuing this wilderness as a sacred promise.

[@Siegfried5846]

Don't be fooled by this guy. There is a lot of meaning behind romantic landscapes like that. Just meaning that HE doesn't like. He is arguing against a strawman. I would recommend Roger Scruton. He was a much better art critic, but guys like this would never talk about his work. They prefer Prager U, since Prager U are dumb and can't make a case for anything.

[@ghhostboyy2465]

I googled the guy in the video, his name is Robert Florczak & honestly all I need to know about him as an artist is that he taught at Academy of Art University in San Francisco-I'm a student at another art college in the Bay Area & AAU is NOTORIOUS for being a scam & a terrible school. Like that is the only thing anybody/everybody knows about AAU. It also seems like he's primarily an illustrator, & was a professor of illustration, which is like, universally a notoriously brutal & product/aesthetic-driven field of study. I feel bad for this guy's students.

[@lindenkarras5303]

What's so bad about teaching illustration? No hate, I'm genuinely curious on your stance. To some, such as myself, that is as much art as that which is avant garde.

[@ghhostboyy2465]

@@lindenkarras5303there's nothing wrong with illustration itself as a field and practice of art, it's just often taught in a way that's extremely commercialized by "my way or the highway" type of professors. this guy seems to fit the bill lol

[@lindenkarras5303]

Well said. In the fact that this man seems to be a poor professor, we agree.

[@dodgersfan8598]

" You're so ugly you could be a modern art masterpiece!" Gunnery Sergeant Hartman

[@nairsheasterling9457]

Imagine using the term "degeneracy" unironically and then wondering why people call you a fascist, as if that isn't a dogwhistle proposing genocidal violence as a solution.

[@shakey3306]

The opposite is also fascism, if you think more u will realise you’re just a fascist too

[@IvanBaturaChannel]

@@shakey3306 The opposite of what? How is it fascist? I need to know that.

[@KarlSnarks]

Video: Fascists like naked butt dudes Me: Well at least I can agree with them on that one thing..

[@tasfa10]

Even if we're amazed by older works of art and recognize their quality, what is the point of keeping reproducing what's already been done to eternity? How many more photo-realistic mountain landscapes do we need before it becomes pointless? Are we to just keep reproducing ancient greek sculpture, baroque painting and music from the classical period, with the sole purpose of "keeping the standards"? Notice how more than trying to appreciate and reflect on works of art, even from a purely aesthetic point of view, he's actually super concern with how will we determine what's better. It's as if the point of looking at art was first and foremost to determine a hierarchy of the better and the worse art. What's the actual point of that? It's just to serve a conservative world view, but it contributes nothing to the experience of engaging with art. If anything it takes away from it, turning it into a contest and forcing you to always refer back to whatever work of art sets the "standard" in order to measure up against it. 50:30 of course his audience can't go and just buy works of art to change the standards of the art world... But I guess it falls in line with their free market ideology. You vote with your dollars and the market will be optimal at giving back the best. What other solution could he give...? Other than what the actual nazis did... To be fair tho, art that aims only at provoking engagement and discussion can sometimes turn into some sort of olympics of the absurd, if you know what I mean. If everyone's aiming at coming up with the most iconoclastic and provocative work of art it can easily turn into a nonsense contest that will cause people to roll their eyes more than actually engage.

[@brettb205]

Oh wow, wasn't expecting Bouguereau to pop up in the conversation. L'Aurore is in my hometown art museum. It's taller than you'd expect; with beautiful soft tones of blue and pink worked into every object, even the greenery of the lilies. Also, you know, the boobie degeneracy. It faces right out into the main hall from it's room, which I feel was done on purpose given it's one of the few non-religious nudes in an art museum in a liberal holdout in a very red state

[@sharongillesp]

The David is 350 tons because originally it was carved to be on top of a high building. . . It needed to be large enough to be scene from a great distance.

[@Suth1172]

I would like to might a slight correction on Prager U’s part at 26:40. The painting medium isn’t cow dung but Elephant dung, a world of difference if you ask me…

[@tjenadonn6158]

You'd think Prager of all people would know his urine and feces.

[@eversonalmeida9866]

Fantastic video, as always. The minor bad take, IMHO, is to question the power of the beauty, specifically when you see it in flesh. Yes, I agree, beauty is not the most important thing, but when you see Michelangelo's David up close... you get breathless, whatever you think of art as a medium. Same to Guernica and many others.

[@snowmonster42]

Thanks for saying this. I totally agreed with what he said about art that is just beauty, until he got to the Birth of Venus and then I got all sad. I love Botticelli.

[@brendanbloomberg3283]

Guernica is a great painting for a 13 year old.

[@geovaughan8261]

Lemme get this straight… -Florczak presents a “non-art” object as art -People discuss the meaning of the work -Florczak reveals its non-art nature -A new understanding is achieved And he DOESN’T believe in the principles of modern art?

[@jestevez36]

Okay you’ve sold me on your streams I love hearing your thoughts outside of the well scripted normal videos on this channel

[@australopithecus_lucis]

Throughout the video, the "accurate reproduction of reality" was mentioned, as what we see as a "realistic" painting. I think you could have a video on that topic, and look into Merleau Ponty, a french philosopher who claimed that Cezanne was the best artist to capture reality as it is.

[@tjenadonn6158]

"Accurate reproduction of reality" doesn't necessarily mean visually reproducing what the eye sees. I've heard it argued, and even made the argument myself, that David Lynch's "Eraserhead" is in all of its nightmarishness the most psychologically realistic film ever made about life in postwar urban poverty, a sort of kitchen sink surrealism as it were. H. G. Wells used Martian invaders to depict the reality of an overwhelmingly technologically advanced conquering force on relatively primitive natives in "The War of The Worlds" as a means of chastising Britain for its imperialist ventures. Many psychiatric health professionals have said that the most accurate depictions of depression and borderline personality disorder in popular culture are in "Bojack Horseman" and "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" respectively, the former being an animated dramedy about a talking horse and the latter being a musical sitcom. Realism is different from photorealism.

[@australopithecus_lucis]

@@tjenadonn6158 well said, that's why such a video would be interesting. Merleau Ponty dives into it in a fascinating manner, although more visually. He believes that photorealism is solely illusionary, we make ourselves think it's how reality looks, we idealize our perception on the world which has terrible repercussions on social issues. He insists that Cezanne captured reality as our senses perceive it: shapes blending together, a distorted perspective...

[@clintatk]

Fun talk! It needs to be remembered that every viewer will bring their experiences to their viewing and give it their context unless the artwork is pre- explained, ie, posterized. Therefore historical art, any art, can still retain value in this way. The difference would be in the work’s level of impact, today or at any point in time.

[@raulrubio9689]

The way he says... "White" background... Chills.

[@tendr247]

I’m conservative, I feel. I’m a Christian, Republican and I love painting and I paint in abstract.

[@brendanbloomberg3283]

Then you're wasting your time.

[@lilyschultz36]

I feel like a lot of this convervative way of thinking about art is rooted in religion, specifically Christianity. "people are glorifying evil/ vulgar or ugly things" is something that I heard a lot growing up conservative evangelical. plus, in Christianity everything has a right and wrong, no gray areas. I think that's why they hate subjectivity so much; it takes away from the good and bad dichotomy

[@brendanbloomberg3283]

There is no gray area.

[@almighty_milkman4883]

"Advocate the teaching of art appreciation..." and then someone stamped their feet when students had to see the gRaPhIC statue of David. Amazing. It's like they won't make up their minds on purpose so they can stay mad about non-issues.

[@tetsujin_144]

The discussion of Courbet and Bouguereau at the end fits an idea I had for why Prager U is interested in standards of art to begin with... That it doesn't matter if an old piece of art had a controversial message to convey in its time or if it flew in the face of artistic convention at the time (as with the impressionists) - what matters is that it's old enough that we no longer see those messages so apparently. An old painting depicting suffering, poor laborers or whatever doesn't have the same shock value it had when it was new, and if we saw today's direct equivalent it would feel unremarkable, people are exposed to enough such imagery that they become desensitized to it. So what they are rallying against is more powerful forms of expression, whether it's an art installation radical enough in its presentation to bring new attention to its message or TV shows or movies that draw us in with a story then try to convey some social commentary at the same time. They want to limit what people will see as valid art because that robs art of its power.

[@BlakeBarrett]

Watching this, specifically the discussion around the theoretical ice-skaters, makes me think of the reaction and subsequent discussion to Wall Ride by Ross Chastain. The act wasn't traditional art, but it was a disruptive act that started many heated debates. Weather or not it was intentional (my guess not), it revived the sense of Theatre in the modern chariot races.

[@eryn2883]

the best part of art to me is the philosophy and thought provoking nature, whether it's emotional or protest's something. i love the art that looks "pointless" because it never is. it more be to certain people but there always is a point to art. there is always intention with art, whether it's just an outlet for some or a critique. we need art and people who don't like modern art are weird to me because art can give you a look inside someone else's mind and as someone who can't draw for shit it's amazing

[@Blackrain7070]

I really appreciate how he looks into the 'art renewal center' that prageru talks about and immediately points out their hypocrisy,

[@webpunk808]

I love when he suddenly speaks in french and I have no idea of what he's saying but sounds classy

[@taylorcagle9885]

Modern art being almost completely personal expression and lacking collectivistism is entirely due to the hyper-individualism of today’s society. Until we achieve class consciousness in our society and workers begin seeing themselves as a collective, this will unfortunately continue

[@tectorgorch8698]

Fantastic job. Have you "done" Rothko yet? I love Rothko and would really enjoy an analysis of his work.

[@brendanbloomberg3283]

Rothko was a talentless depressive with no talent. Great marketing though!

[@austinhernandez2716]

They say they support the arts but talk shit about people getting art degrees and want to defund universities.

[@brendanbloomberg3283]

Why are they wrong?

[@austinhernandez2716]

​@@brendanbloomberg3283 that's hypocritical

[@brendanbloomberg3283]

@@austinhernandez2716 how?

[@seekingabsolution1907]

32:43 ill be honest I've never seen a Jackson pollock painting so my answer to that question would probably just be "I like the combinations of colours, they're pleasing to my eyes" which at the end of the day is all the value of aesthetics anyway. I suspect however the trick is this isn't a pollock painting? Is it like just a dirty canvas? Edit: oh it's an apron. But the point is that my answer wouldn't change, the aesthetics don't change just because it is an apron. If aesthetics are so easily produced what's the value in them? Also the submission of an apron as modern art is exactly the sort of commentary that modern art is based on so he's actually undermining his own point here.

[@im_lennie]

I picked up on the different version of the Raft of the Medusa right away. Very nefarious editing choice by PragerU if you ask me.

[@ai_dc]

I wonder how the PU guy feels about surrealism? Because their technique is on point but their content is not "moral." Also what about Klimt? Mix of realistic figures but abstract back ground.

[@brendanbloomberg3283]

Which surrealist are not moral and how are they not?

[@ai_dc]

@@brendanbloomberg3283 You should research Dali's sketches. I'm not sure if they would fit with PU morality ideals.

[@brendanbloomberg3283]

@@ai_dc I have. My boss owns one. You haven't answered the question though.

[@ai_dc]

@@brendanbloomberg3283 I looked it up and can't find them but in the Dali museum in Spain there are a lot of ink sketches of male genitalia doing certain thing etc.

[@brendanbloomberg3283]

​@@ai_dc Seems like you have a fine imagination.

[@gazaht]

"If a product doesn't sell, it won't be made" hears me who has been making art for years and hasn't even wanted to sell anything I've made. (I'm going to look like a real sell-out if anything good happens for me lol)

[@cameronrobinson3933]

I have spent 20 years teaching myself the fundamentals of Art and it took a long time to get to where I could finally create what I want to create. I spent about a year trying to get a following on Instagram during a time when Instagram was messing with its algorithms and it was disappointing. Especially when I come across somebody like this lady who was very pretty with long legs who would put a giant canvas on the floor dip a mop in a bucket of paint and swirl the paint on the canvas and get a different color and swirl that on the canvas as well. It took her all the 45 seconds to make her painting and then she posted standing next to it in a short skirt and sells it for thousands of dollars while it also gets thousands of likes

[@deepashtray5605]

Coherent videos from PragerU are exceptionally rare regardless of the topic.

[@brendanbloomberg3283]

Same with The Canvas!

[@benk4088]

I disagree at 39:20 when you say if this piece is being more talked about and engaged with more then it’s more valuable.. because art is not competition. Well in that case art does just becomes a competition on who can be the most provocative rather than actually having something substantial to say in a compelling way. Like as much as we view these professors as outdated and snobbish, much of the modern art world has the reputation of being out of touch and pretentious, and not undeservedly. I understand at the time to break these apparent rules of art was bold and influential in of itself. But I don’t think it’s really enough anymore. Anybody can be critical, it’s easier to write a negative review than a positive one, it’s easy to point holes rather than give solutions. It’s much harder to be truly original and create something novel. I think modern art relies too much on just being a critique, either of society or art itself. Like yeah you’ve proven art doesn’t have to conform to classical standards. Now give me something more, give me something beautiful something profound. I just think there’s a balance and most average people like myself enjoy modern art and dislike it’s extremes. Even if you want your piece to be primarily critical fine but I think simply making a statement is a really lazy form of art and not really that compelling. Anybody can make a statement, anybody can just be offensive and get people talking. You made a statement- why should I give a shit? Did you actually create anything?

[@matteuz7384]

The Canvas is so brain washed

[@LeaSeiler_painter]

Hmmm, it is definetly an interesting discussion we are having. As someone who is studying fine art at a modern art school but prefers to paint in classical figurative realism I can understand both sides arguments. Personally, I like a good painting that works with a traditional sense of aesthetics. But a piece that captures me because of its social commentary is also highly appreciated. But I think the artworld today has some serious problems when it comes to for example the art market and the authenticity of artworks. I think we need to have a debate about how we define quality and how we can make every art direction more relevant to the time we currently live in.

[@dimitryrazumov1025]

a really interesting analysis. looking forward to seeing more of that!

[@nickb863]

Would love to hear you give a critical comparative analysis of fascist state art and Bolshevik social realism. Also, would love to just hear your thoughts on the resurgence of realism in the past decade (i.e the rise of all of the classical ateliers, which are in many ways very conservative and idealizing of a Eurocentric past - yet also teach a really tangible fine art craft - for half the cost of a BFA degree)

[@DevonExplorer]

That was really interesting and a great talk about both the attitudes of Prager U and art in general. As an artist I enjoy making both conceptual and design art and enjoy seeing both, along with the more traditional, from a wide variety of artists. However, one painting that has always been the 'Emperor's Clothes' to me has got to be the Mona Lisa. I think it's one of the ugliest paintings I've ever seen...despite its technical prowess, lol. By the way, I'm English and in my 70s, and have never heard the term jibber jabber in my life, except once from an American so perhaps it's from somewhere in the USA.

[@bengreen171]

The fact is that whatever you think about art, whatever genre you prefer - however wrong you are about the Impressionists being boring - Prager is objectively incoherent and merely afraid of the unfamiliar. Because Prager's 'expert' doesn't live up to his own standards. He cannot claim the Impressionists are guilty of the crimes of modern art because he knows people would laugh him out of the room. People don't hate the Impressionists and are not confronted by them in the same way they are with contemporary art, and so if Prager panned Pissaro he'd be handwaved away for being a crazy nutjob in the same way someone who refuses to watch colour TV would be. But the Impressionists didn't have the standards that Prager claims are the mark of 'good' art. That's literally why they were forced to set up their own salon. They were rejected by the Establishment. So Prager's graph to show standards falling is a lie from the beginning. You don't get to claim there are standards, outline what these standards are and then pretend something that objectively doesn't meet those standards actually does. And if Prager wants to claim that in fact the Establishment were wrong, and in fact the Impressionists do meet the standard for good art - well, that's problematic for the whole notion of objective standards. Because how can a bunch of experts be so wrong in the 19th century that they need correcting by 'experts' today? That shouldn't be possible with objective criteria. And that's why, while it might be impossible to rank art in an objective hierarchy of value - it's very simple to judge Prager. Does it contain contradictions that refute its own claims? Yes. Prager is objectively wrong.

[@jerodwolf5582]

PragerU be out here saying, "art striving for realism been real quite since Hitler was rejected from art school."

[@brendanbloomberg3283]

PragerUU is run by an orthodox Jew.

[@artpiratecollage]

I'm a collage artist, this guy would HATE what I do 🤪

[@brendanbloomberg3283]

Which guy?

[@sadie4479]

Lmao I was not expecting to see Prager “U” here! 😂

[@lynnvanegmond5942]

Some times art is used to be rebellious, just to be rebellious. But it just causes more shitt. It encourages artists to produce art that lacks skill.

[@kayleegates2724]

Even though I've loved how informative and exploratory your channel has been I thought this was a sponsored video and almost skipped it because it appeared to be platforming PragerU and raising the question "are you a fascist if you don't like modern art?" 😂😂😂 So glad I gave it a chance!

[@zekethefreakmashingupgeek]

Great video! Well done! Broke Prager U and their propaganda down perfectly. I looked into ARC. Yeah, when I looked at their staff, judges, and advisory board and saw one person of color out of dozens of people, my Spidey-Sense immediately went off. The organization is only about dealing in old-school Realism, currently painting in that style, and having competition after competition against fellow artists. Art shouldn't be a constant competition. It should show beauty, sure, but it should show ugly, can be ugly, and cause us to ask big questions. This is the problem with the Right/Conservatism, you mustn't question authority, your lot in life, or God and the existence of. This is why Realism has grown old and stale. ARC could promote their agenda all they want. As long as people continue to ask the big questions, ARC and their adherents will only live in a small corner of the universe.

[@brendanbloomberg3283]

The Canvas host is a Nazi.

[@claesvanoldenphatt9972]

If you are asking if Prager is fascist, the short answer is ‘yes’. Also he’s a grifter.

[@zeus7873]

Avg Western liberal intellect

[@claesvanoldenphatt9972]

@@zeus7873 sez the subaverage illiberal chud anti-intellectual. From Inja? Chyna? Russha? Hindukneesya?

[@MPSmaruj]

It's amazing how the disconnect between conservatives and the modern art could be simplified to both sides agreeing on "the quality of modern art is very debatable". It's just that for conservative people "debate" is a negative.

[@williamhill1667]

I think an important point has to do with something often talked about in economics but missed in modern art which is labor. I believe it was Marx critiquing Adam Smith who said that the value of something is determined not by the value needed to produce it, but by the perceived amount of labor needed to produce it. People say art can be "objectively good or bad" based on the amount of skill/craft/labor that goes into it, which leads to the incorrect idea that only hyper-realism which requires massive amounts of labor is "real art" and anything falling from that standard is degenerate. Since we know any old crane can lift a rock on a platform, we don't see it as valuable since it didn't take as much labor as the Sistine chapel or David. Also, not that intellectualizing a complex work isn't amazing, but if too much effort is required to derive meaning it isn't properly conveying meaning.

[@zdravkojovanovic3513]

Yes but conceptualizing an idea and then thinking how to convey it and then conveying it is just as equally, if not more, strenous and labor consuming

[@dialgos7574]

Over the time the meaning and point of art has changed quite alot. The meaning of art is more in the focus now. You can like or dislike this change but not deny it. I personally do not like it too much. I like to have art that is straight up appealing to me. I don't need to have a discussion about why the sculpture is brilliant in the way what it is supposed to portray. Maybe that is a very naive way too look at art but thats simply what I enjoy. To say mondern art is bad is just wrong on so many levels. "Modern art" simply doesn't exist as art has never been more diverse than ever before (which is a good thing same as with music)

[@hurdygurdyguy1]

For me a lot of "Fine Art" and "Modern Art" has always been summed up by R. Crumb in his Fine Artiste Blues: I quit my job I spent three months in bed Thought I’d take up fine art painting instead I got me a canvas and I got me some pain Five minutes work is gonna make me a saint Baby I’m a fine artiste And maybe I deserve to be kissed My paintings are famous and they’re worth lots of dough Pretty girls all hang around my gallery show I’m as good with my paintbrush as I am with my lips Stick around honey learn some aesthetic tips Baby I’m a fine artiste And maybe I deserve to be kissed Be bull-headed at what ever you do Let that old ego come a beamin’ on thru Tell him fine art is something he don’t know And he’ll be that chump who floats you that dough Baby I’m a fine artiste And maybe I deserve to be kissed First I was a cowboy and then a guru priest Any old thing just to keep my palms greased Wear a white leather suit and some bubble toed shoes Got a fifty thousand dollar a year case of the blues Baby I’m a fine artiste And maybe I deserve to be kissed 😂

[@Linda-9037]

How drained of soul must a person be to find classical art "boring" or "outdated" ? The need to love, appreciate, thrill at and have our breath taken away by beauty is food for the soul. The blend of skill AND creativity, discipline AND knowledge..expression and visual communication is not "mechanical" in any way it just the opposite it is THE UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE. This video maker wants art to be mere conversation pieces...Preger University has the right idea..The idea to uplift understanding and appreciation for art rather than trashing up art isn't "fachist" it's decerning, informed and serves to uplift the soul in truth rather than fake pretense by someone who could never match the genius of the artists who came before him so he attempts to presume to judge them to hide his gigantic artistic self absorbed inferiority by being a blow hard as a substitute....I prefer to live in reality and appreciate beauty. But then, my ego does not need to try to pretend to trash genius that I can't match...I have room to let in the success of others from the past and sincerely love what they accomplished without the guile of the egomaniac pretender.

[@DanScott1]

Thank you for showing botticelli's Birth Of Venus, an inspirational forunner to Japanese Anime and histories line art genius ahead of his time. Could discuss this one all night.. notice the fold in the cloth in the right hand of the woman holding out the clock covered in flowers, perhaps a personal statement by Boticelli towards the paintings intended location - the bedroom chamber of the Medici. Perhaps a bold personal statement from a modern art rebel confined as he was by state and church and, perhaps, symbolic forunner to Courbet's L’Origine du monde 350 years later.

[@Yatukih_001]

Many of the artworks shown at the Degenerate Art exhibition are simply beautiful. Similarly, persons described as ´modern architects´ considered art Deco to be degenerate art. The classical period is returning, and inevitably this will result in a return of Art Deco. Thanks for your video, friend!! Kind regards from Ásgeir in Iceland.

[@gnommg]

You don't have to put down classical art to uplift modern art. The buff naked men have way more to offer than aesthetics. You need historical context to engage and understand the art work whereas modern art is easier to engage with because its context is within living memory.

[@Enirahtak8]

Completely agree. I really, *really* wish there was more of a focus here on the complexities of classical art, including Renaissance art. Both modern art and older art has its place in modern society, as you say, while it might be easier to discuss modern art as it relates more to what's going on in today's society, there's *so* much value in understanding our past, as well as interest and knowledge.

[@robderiche]

Agree. Prager U is garbage but I stopped watching this video after 10 minutes due to incessant use of “boring” to describe all pre-Modern art.

[@meursaultroquentin]

Thank God I'm not the only one that thought that... Novelty shouldn't be the only factor in appreciation.

[@man4437]

In his defense, doesn't that technically make his point correct? Art loses a lot of its allure outside of its cultural context which is why looking at something that is to us very old and seems kind of generic is boring.

[@Enirahtak8]

@@man4437 He appreciates modern art in its cultural context but, at least to me, doesn't even try to make the same attempt for the older art pieces. Art history's importance lies in the understanding of the context and background of different pieces of art from different time periods. It doesn't make sense, to me, to be an art expert/enthusiast and to *not* examine older art pieces with a sense of appreciation and understanding. It kind of seems like a type of hypocrisy to me. It also does the older pieces of art a disservice, *especially* in the context of this video. Ignorant right-wing, including facsist, people, don't tend to properly examine older pieces of art, so to do the same thing in a video that criticises the right-wing (including facsist) viewpoint seems to pander to and match their ignorance and shallowness.

[@khris461]

I think there is such a fine line these days without falling to “things were better back then” Because of capitalism it’s hard to find good intentions in todays art world therefore a lot of things have artifice much more. As well as self expression of art can sometimes reproduce lazy works or works that don’t evoke much due to being so personal that it can become unrelateable. This being said, I’m always for progression in art and trying to keep open mind. But just like one of your older videos , posing the question “it’s beautiful but is it art?” Is very important. It can be good to be critical of todays art work and I guess just always being mindful we aren’t overstepping that line of echoing right wing talking points or wishing for a better time. I think sometimes the best works comes from the right personal story that often evokes universal feelings “think something like Tarkovsky’s works” that often are Russo centric but evoke a humanity that people feel world wide. It’s a fine line and it seems in todays world as you put it, there can be found more craftsmen than artists. Or just art that’s hard to filter what’s good and bad without jumping to extremes of all of todays are sucks or all of todays art is meaningful and thoughtful. We just got to filter each one case by case and see the intentions and how much they ACTUALLY HELP nourish us. And not just thinking in the here and now only to forget about that piece of work days later which seems to be a big symptom in todays world. Great discussion in this video !

[@BLMacab]

Dali was greater than every artist you love and hes capitalist

[@khris461]

@@BLMacab Dali was a fascist and his works do not resonate with me emotionally by any means. I can appreciate the craft but I’d rather expressionism > surrealism. Mvnch & Bacon I’d choose over Dali any time

[@BLMacab]

@@khris461 dali said he was capitalist, and you dumdum progressives dont know what fascist or racist means, Dalis drawings are worth more

[@techwizpc4484]

To be fair there really are modern artworks out there that aren't really impressive that anyone can do without so much of a thought. A banana taped to a wall isn't exactly life changing. Like yeah someone taped a banana to a canvas, big deal! Abstract painting? Same idea just random strokes. At this point my palette might as well be a work of art itself.

[@jkay5558]

I might be in the minority here, but I feel like both sides made valid points.

[@matteuz7384]

Yeah definitely, this happens when art is being politicized

[@Lunch_Meat]

Only one side is saying "the stuff I don't like is a problem to society and should be removed" though and THAT is the issue. The other side is only "politicizing" the issue in response to that which has already been made political

[@Lunch_Meat]

@@matteuz7384 who started politicizing it and who simply responded to the argument made by those who politicized it?

[@ming2980]

@@matteuz7384 Art always was political

[@zekethefreakmashingupgeek]

No one has to like Modern Art. But for the Right to rail against it as an attack on humanity is ridiculous. For them to be against the concept of Beauty being in the eye of the Beholder is downright dangerous.

[@brendanbloomberg3283]

Modern art is an attack on humanity!

[@iNerdier]

13:37 Oh man I just blurted out 'What about Otto Dix' and you bring it up almost to the second.

[@NiinaSKlove]

You make so many great points in this video! Very interesting!

[@digitalcoffin666]

18:00 there's nothing to say about the david apart from its beauty? wtf

[@jonnawyatt]

Dennis Prager is happy with the horrors of the bible though.