[ultima ratio]

It is the arrogance of Modernism that astonishes. It is the same in art: the compulsion is to break with the past and all tradition, to startle, to be original, to demean the past, to be "different", to show "how special we are", how superior from all that has gone before. And the result is always the same: banality, absurdity, superficiality. The rooms nobody wants to visit in any museum are those dedicated to "modern art". Tom Wolfe made a similar observation in "The Painted Word" when he said the ugliest building on any university campus is always the School of Architecture. It figures.

[rising tide]

"Tom Wolfe made a similar observation in "The Painted Word" when he said the ugliest building on any university campus is always the School of Architecture."

If the art or architecture could be enjoyed by the common man then the "annointed" couldn't feel they are so special. What fun would that be?