Answer

The Role of Beauty in Contemporary Art

Question #2

Primarily, beauty is subjective, especially regarding contemporary art. What one person considers beautiful may not appear the same to the other. Beauty is not utterly absent in contemporary art, and this entirely depends on what the artists intend to communicate to the audience. Beauty breathes life into the perception of art (Potter, 2018). The beauty of art plays the role of the first appeal to viewers. Most viewers are naturally attracted to beautiful things. Thus, a beautiful piece of art is likely to attract huge viewership. The ability of the audience to perceive beauty in art is what makes the art compelling. The experience with art reveals the moment of humanity the audience shares with artists, which transcends time and space. However, it is rarely what the art communicates. 

 Contemporary art does not need to be beautiful. A work of art can be successful and meaningful without being beautiful (Potter, 2018). To consider an art beautiful does not present a critical assertion. The consideration provides little value to an argument that seeks to understand the idealism, morals, and politics of human cultural activities in the past and present. Thus, an important piece of art must not necessarily be beautiful. The attention on contemporary art has shifted from its aesthetic to conceptual quality. Whether an art is beautiful or not is determined by the intended audience. Some people use the aesthetic value of an art to consider it beautiful while others believe that an art is beautiful if it has significant conceptual meaning (Potter, 2018). The subjectivity of the concept of beauty in art makes it difficult to define the beauty of art.