The Changing Face of Art and How People Perceive Art

As part of the ongoing process of organizing our somewhat messy life, today I came across a folder containing — among other things — a photograph of my grandfather; my father's father... who passed away before I was even born.

My grandfather was an art collector and had a fine collection of Danish paintings from the 1800's and early 1900's. He was a merchant by profession, but art was important to him... so he bought art.

A painting from my grandfather's collection — Winter Scene by Sigvard Hansen, 1913

As I thought about my grandfather and his art collection, I got to thinking about art today. And I thought about the changing attitudes towards art, and the changes in how people interact with art.

When Mrs. Denmarkguy and I had our local brick-and-mortar gallery, we already were witnessing the changes in the art world in this digital age in which we live.

The most subtle change we noticed was the sharp increase in interest in digital art. And with that, a change in how people perceive art. We got to know some wonderful digital artists... with whom we also had long discussions about how to make their work come to life in ways that were more than just a screen saver.

Where does the path lead us?

For some, we would help with the digital-to-paper transition, serving those who wanted to be able to take a physical thing home and hang it on their wall. Of course, not all digital art "translates" well to a printed format... and we also had to start looking at one of the more frequently asked questions: "What does 'ORIGINAL' mean, in the context of digital art?"

Alongside this, we also started seeing a slow trend in attitudes, particularly among younger people... specifically those who loved art but also self-identified as "digital nomads." They definitely loved the art, but art was not about ownership, it was about experience.

Once they had experienced seeing the art, their "art needs" had been satisfied. If they desired something more, it was typically a "souvenir postcard."

Sunset reflection

Of course, that makes perfect sense, if all your worldly possessions are in your backpack and computer bag... you have no walls on which to hang physical art.

And now, I am watching the NFT craze take hold of the art world. I am calling it "a craze" for the time being, because I still reserve judgment as to whether it's a passing fad that will give way to something else, next year... OR it's the future of art.

What worries me about it — in part because I am an artist as well as a writer — is that I see the actual talent and creativity taking a back seat to a feeding frenzy of trading and people focusing on "how much money they can make" churning out and churning over huge volumes of pretty mediocre work for no reason other than the novelty factor and a gullible FOMO driven public who've been told — or have read — that "NFTs are the hot THING!"

Signs of spring

Call me cynical, but I have this uncomfortable suspicion that a very heavy penny is going to drop, at some point in the not too distant future.

Of course, I hope I'm wrong about that, because it's really cool that creatives finally get to be well compensated for their work!

Thanks for reading, and have a great remainder of your week!

How about YOU? What's your opinion about NFTs? DO you see the way we look at art as changing? Are you an artist? How is your approach to creating different in the digital age, if at all? Leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!

(All text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is ORIGINAL CONTENT, created expressly for this platform — NOT A CROSSPOST!!!)
Created at 20210324 23:16 PDT
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