philosophy – French Californian

April 22, 2014

Hannah Wilson

Places I once knew

The other day, I revisited my old neighbourhood. Just walking down that familiar street brought memories that had entirely faded from my brain, rushing back with clarity. I remembered small, impossible details like what my friend ordered that time we ate at the café downstairs, the happy conversation I had with the nearby florist, discussing the contents of paté with my Mother when she visited, shopping for a tiny christmas tree with my best friend, the nearby church I had visited when I was at my lowest… I could go on for days.

But instead of making me happy, these memories just made me sad. I spent the rest of the day mulling over why sadness was my first reaction, and I still haven’t quite figured it out.

October 17, 2012

Hannah Wilson

Post-Modernism, or something like that…

Like Comments Art, Paris

Although I call myself an Art Historian, I have yet to fully accept the kind of contemporary art that makes me feel slightly scared and very uncomfortable. The kind of art that is hideously ugly and disturbing, or the kind of art that simply makes no sense whatsoever. I try to imagine what the artists must have been thinking while piecing together such creations, and my mind cannot fathom it.

I can understand art that follows or comments upon the chronological flow of art history, and I can accept art that is pleasant to look at, or entertaining to interact with, but I have a really hard time accepting something that consists of cardboard hanging from a string, or something that is so ugly it makes me feel kinda queasy. Part of the problem is nobody wants to repeat what has already happened in the past, so boundaries are constantly being challenged. Boundaries of medium, subject matter, morals, etc. Doesn’t it get exhausting to constantly challenge the status-quo?! It also places the artists’ own personal, subjective vision or motivation, which much of the time is incomprehensible or hidden to the spectator, above everything else, especially beauty. The concept of beauty has been almost eradicated in contemporary art. I believe these tendencies are somewhere along the lines of Post-Modernism. And it is all very confusing, almost frustratingly so.