[mystraline]

Ive always felt that the Art World seems to talk in its own tone. And that tone is arrogant, looking down on people, and haughtiness. Words dont mean with the Art World as they normally do. And definitions are scarce, since you are expected to innately know them, or be 'out'.

[KaiserPro]

"high art" and the language of high art is ripe for satire. That I totally get.

But, I would actually beg, to not let those who indulge in high art language colonise "art" as well. Art is for you and me, everyone. twats writing bollocks is for the "elite"

Art history is a mixed bag, it is also for all of us, even if it tedious.

[SideburnsOfDoom]

I agree, and as the article makes clear, this current liminalism really does not come from the world of "High Art":

>As an internet phenomenon, the most recent iteration of liminal aesthetics can be primarily traced to a 2019 Creepypasta collaborative short story entitled "The Backrooms"

This is ground-up, the opposite of high art. It's even kind of "outsider art".

[mcphage]

This sounds like the chip on your shoulder rather than anything about the article.

[mystraline]

Not at all.

Ive also purchased and commissioned a few pieces of art. And I find that with actual artists, they ARE very approachable and dont have the Art Critic vibe of 'better than you'.

Its primarily the art literature and critics whom portray this haughty and 'holier than thou' types of one way conversations.

My SO works for a art museum, and they constantly fight with those types as well. When their museum hosts art painting days for artists (primarily plen air or open air painting), the artists use appropriate jargon for painting, but the critics show up and its basically a word-soup for their own vernacular.

[mfru]

It is always the middle men that ruin everything, even in art.

[isomorphic]

> Liminalism (if we can christen this as a movement, and we should) is a form dedicated to the discovery of digital found art. It is important not just because of its content, but because it signals the migration of critical terminology and thinking into popular discourse in a truly democratic sense, independent of the traditional confines of the art industry as expressed in exhibitions, galleries, and museums.

This is not the language of an elitist.

If anything, it sounds like someone defending Liminalism's inclusion in the contemporary canon from arrogant elitists.

[antonvs]

It’s just one group of elitists slap-fighting another.

Are we really supposed to take seriously that “liminalism is the defining aesthetic of our time”?

> This is not the language of an elitist.

It absolutely is. Someone claiming to tell you what is “important”, what is “truly democratic”, in contradiction to “traditional” structures is elitism at its most insufferable.

[mystraline]

It is definitely that. But the art critics also use very loaded terms and such to also confuse any discussion. That language is also used to identify the 'in' crowd too.

Examples:

"Emptied of stores and absent of humans, Columbus’s photograph captures the melancholic discomfort of liminal aesthetics — the strange, simultaneous pull of disquiet and nostalgia that makes this bottom-up, crowd-curated digital movement among the most pertinent and explicit artistic reactions to the strange, surreal experience of living in our particular moment of dystopian late capitalism."

Holy run-on dense sentence, Batman! The amount of connected jargon (and overloading the jargon) is said in such a way that you cant engage with it. That should have been 3 sentences.

"As an internet phenomenon, the most recent iteration of liminal aesthetics can be primarily traced to a 2019 Creepypasta collaborative short story entitled “The Backrooms,” which first appeared on the message board 4chan."

And heres a backup of the original 4chan post https://archive.4plebs.org/x/thread/22661164/#22661164

As much as 4chan spouts (slur for black people, slur for gay people, pro-nazi propaganda), that thread is super approachable by everyone. 'Post your disquieting images that feel off'.

"Obviously, the clearest thematic precursor to Liminalism is Edward Hopper. There is a stolid, individualistic, bootstrapping Protestant work ethic element to Hopper’s work, which is, in its sheer insanity, the wellspring of the alienation implicit in Liminalism."

First, the definition is researching that artist, and trying to even understand their place and all the hidden meanings there. But the point is name dropping, showing the "in group" that they really totally know what theyre talking about.

The reality is that art really is for everyone! Humans have been making art since before we were homo sapiens. The problem is the arrogant art critique world is trying to gatekeep "art" to their own definitions and nomenclature that excludes the masses.

[antonvs]

I studied art up to the first year of university, until discovering that academically, it wasn't for me. Family friends were also working artists (and one cartoonist!), so I'm not unfamiliar with the world.

There's plenty of art criticism and analysis that I can get on board with. But the "liminal" craze seems like just that to me: a fad that appeals to some people because of its mysteriousness, and so on. It has no real broader significance. Just because someone identified an aesthetic with a term doesn't turn it into something more significant.

It's as if someone identified the "spooky" aesthetic and started talking about the X-Files and Blair Witch (dating myself) as examples of high spooky art. I suppose one can make a case for it, but so what? It's just... pointless.

[vintermann]

You do get the feeling that someone is trying to sell you an NFT, or something very similar but maybe classier or something.

The phenomenon isn't interesting for being a phenomenon. I agree with that. But I do like many of the pictures.

[krelian]

What are some terms that would have benefitted from elucidations? Also can you give an example were the tone felt arrogant?

[p_j_w]

Where in this article do you feel that people are being looked down on?

[t0lo]

Cocaine, crazy egos, and unchallenged mental illness will do that.