The status of contemporary art

The buzz generated by contemporary art in the first decade of the XXIst century sometimes reminds me of the excitement generated by pop music in the 1960's. Something new is in the air — some new cultural trend, some new mass phenomenom of which everybody wants to be part of. Maybe what has happened is that there has been a profound change in the status of contemporary art: no longer an elitist pursuit, it has become part of popular culture. Just as happened with "classical" music, the cannon desintegrated — in the case of art, this desintegration meant the end of the idea of a "vanguard". In its place appeared a bewildering eclecticism, in which it is difficult, maybe even impossible, to distinguish"high" and "low" forms of art. Even though artistic schools produce every year an ever greater quantity of artists, it is no longer necessary to master every detail of the craft to qualify as an artist. You can be a visual artist without knowing how to draw, just as you can play lead guitar in a rock n' roll band without knowing how to read music.