A Poem About Modern Art

About My Poem and Art

I wrote a poem in 1977 after hearing people’s comments on Modern Art. They said things like: “I know what I like, and I don’t like that,” or “My blindfolded puppy could do better,” or more to the point, “What on earth is it?“

It is human nature, I think, to relate to someone or something that we can recognize. We have all gazed at the sky and thought we saw figures, animals, or something else we could name in the fluffy white clouds.

Sometimes art is object-based. In other words, the artist depicts something from life that we can see like a person (portrait), trees, grass, and hills (landscape), or fruit, flowers, and other items (still life).

At other times art is not object-based. The artist did not start with any object but rather is creating a composition of the design elements, color, shape, line, form, textures. This kind of art is called non-objective art. If there is a recognizable object, art that to us looks more realistic, that is called representational art. Abstract art falls somewhere between the two. In abstract art, the artist begins with a recognizable object, but in the course of creation, he or she modifies the object in such a way that it becomes less realistic looking and thus less recognizable. The more drastic the changes are, the more abstract the art is.

My poem is about a young man viewing an exhibit of modern paintings. He is trying very hard to make sense of them and to see identifiable objects. Because the art is non-objective, or at least, very abstract, he is not successful at seeing what he wants to see. He is confused. The title of the painting gives him no clue: the title is Untitled.

I also say in the poem that if it had been twenty years ago, when he was just a child, he may have been more receptive and would have enjoyed the colors and designs instead of trying to figure out what the paintings depict.

Once the other museum intern and I gave a tour of a modern sculpture exhibit. Now these were definitely bronze human figures in the show. They were also nude. Throughout the tour, the children giggled and looked away. They were clearly embarrassed. After the tour was over and the visitors had left, the assistant curator of education asked us, “Now why did that tour go as it did?” He then said something that I have never forgotten. He told us that the children had behaved as they had because the adults who accompanied them were also giggling and acting embarrassed. Children often take their cues from adults.

View my poem here.