An Article by A. V. (769 words, 4 min. read)
There was a time when art made you feel something. When it disturbed your silence, haunted your sleep, or lifted your soul. But today, more often than not, it seems art makes headlines, not because it speaks truth or beauty, but because it plays a game. A dangerous one. One where the loudest voice wins, not the most talented one. Where a banana taped to a wall can be sold for $6,200,000 while countless breathtaking canvases hang, unsold and unseen, in the studios of forgotten artists. So here’s the question no one wants to ask: Are we celebrating art, or are we just celebrating noise?
The Cult of Hype
Let’s talk about how art becomes “important” in today’s world. It starts with the right gallery, the right collector, or the right Instagram account. It doesn’t have to be meaningful. It doesn’t even have to be good. It just has to be noticed. Once it’s in the right hands, the snowball begins to roll: an inflated price tag, a cryptic artist’s statement, a few buzzwords like “deconstructed identity” or “post-industrial nihilism,” and suddenly we’re all supposed to nod and call it genius.
But genius doesn’t need a press release. Genius doesn’t need a PR team. It doesn’t need a blue checkmark.
What it does need is space. Time. Honesty. And we’re giving those things to the wrong people.
The Forgotten
While the art world obsesses over provocation and novelty, real artists are being buried beneath the noise. The ones who still believe in brushstrokes. In memory. In pain. In craftsmanship. These are the artists who pour their trauma into every layer of paint, who still labor over detail, who are not playing a game but living a truth.
But truth doesn’t go viral. Skill isn’t sexy. And if you’re not networking at art fairs or being photographed at openings, you’re invisible.
Ask yourself: when was the last time you saw a piece of art that made you cry? Not from confusion or irony, but from something deeper? Now, when was the last time you saw art that made the news because it was controversial, overpriced, or bizarre?
That’s the imbalance we’ve created.
Fame vs. Talent
There’s an unspoken rule in the current art scene: it’s better to be famous than to be good. And we’ve built an entire economy around that idea. Artists are now encouraged to think like brands. To curate their persona. To prioritize content over depth. Many spend more time crafting captions than canvases.
It’s no wonder then that some have started buying their way to relevance—literally. Buying followers. Buying awards. Buying reviews. Because if perception is everything, then reality becomes irrelevant.
Meanwhile, the purists—the artists who resist this system—are shamed for not playing along. They’re told they don’t understand the “evolution of art.” That they’re stuck in the past. That beauty is boring. That technique is secondary. But when did the art world become allergic to sincerity?
The Emperor’s New Painting
The truth is, a lot of people are afraid to admit they don’t “get” certain art. So instead of asking questions, they pretend. They applaud out of fear—fear of seeming ignorant, uncultured, or conservative. But we must ask: is it really art, or are we just too scared to say it isn’t?
And in that emptiness, we lose the core of what art is meant to be: a mirror, a confession, a memory, a scream.
There is a certain cruelty in this system. Not just to the artists, but to the audience. We are robbed of connection. Of resonance. We are taught that confusion is sophistication, and that discomfort is a higher form of truth. But sometimes discomfort is just emptiness dressed in theory.
Reclaiming Meaning
This isn’t a plea for tradition, or a rejection of new forms. It’s a plea for integrity. For depth. For feeling. Yes, art can shock. Yes, it can be minimal, conceptual, digital, political. But it must also be real. And reality cannot be manufactured by hype.
Let’s stop pretending that value is synonymous with price. That innovation is synonymous with absurdity. That silence around a work means reverence, and not confusion.
Let’s start asking: what does this art say? And more importantly, what does it make me feel?
If the answer is nothing, maybe it’s not your fault. Maybe the art world, for all its noise, has forgotten how to listen.
Because in the end, art is not a game to be won. It’s a truth to be lived. And we deserve better than illusions.
