>> I still can’t understand how I ever missed the really dark stuff in the first place
I think a lot of people missed it because there are many things they call “art” which most of us found revolting. We were told (brainwashed) that we were just not sophisticated enough to understand sophisticated art. Personally I never fell for that, but I did NOT know the creepy meanings behind it all or the other purposes it had. I thought it was just a scam to separate rich, stupid people from large sums of money. I thought the more ugly and shocking stuff was made that way as a joke on the purchaser or maybe for people who were still rebelling and acting out against Mom/Dad/rules.
I hear you re: their vile so-called ‘art’. Last week I visited a small gallery just full of it. I said it’s ‘vile’ and not art and left. I’m being a lot more vocal nowadays about this kind of crap. One thing Q has done for me...freedom from the stupid world of PC.
Art is also one of the best vehicles to transfer obscene amounts of money. Think of it as a chit in a blatant world of corruption. It must be even more satisfying to these folks to know that both the method and the subjects are intrinsically evil.