Art Reboot

69 between object and painting. Only flatness, in the eye and in the mind. Time and time again in our quest to understand the new visual art of the West we have mistaken tactics for strategy, and consequently become confused. All the Isms, all the different avenues of exploration, are simply the means, the process of achieving the desired result, not the revolutionary end. The tyranny to be overthrown was not clearly identified. The artists involved felt the urge for change, felt revolution in the air, but had no common understanding of what unified its many differ- ent manifestations. Multiple revolutionaries pursued their own interpretations of what the revolution was all about, resulting inevitably in confusion, which lingers still. This is how so many different Isms arose in the twentieth century, exponents treating their Ism as a rejection of the laughably-outdated previous one, rather than as one part of the deeper revolution. The quest for novelty continues to dog western and world art. Revolutionaries waving their swords and shouting for change atop rusting barricades long after the revolution is over become an embarrassment. Art students enchanted by newness, and terrified of working within established modes, head off down fruitless paths towards banality. Artists today would do better to ignore the mirage of the new and to explore creativity and depths of perception and expression within the vastly expanded range of arts made possible by their revolutionary forebears. There will always be a place for innovation in art, but that does not mean constantly changing the surfaces of art in order to attract the fleeting attention of the contemporary audience.