The Art of Cruelty

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/17/books/review/book-review-the-art-of-cruelty-by-maggie-nelson.html?scp=1&sq=The%20Art%20Of%20Cruelty%20Maggie%20Nelson&st=cse

This book is a discussion of the celebration of cruelty and sadism in 20th and 21st century art.

It is appalling that this 'art' has been going on unabated for nearly a century. It is the fault of the huge media organs like the New York Times that use this violent drek to sell newspapers, under the guise of 'art criticism'- just as TV shows and movies use gratuitous violence.

I made a search of the the New York Times site using words like exquisite, aesthetic, beautiful, and found precious little in contemporary reviews. These words were used almost exclusively on shows of art from the previous centuries as in 'exquisite drawings by Boucher' or breath taking 16th century Dutch landscapes.

We have generations upon generations of 'artists' and I use that word loosely who have no concept of craftsmanship and a total fear of aesthetics. No-one want to be other than cutting edge- though that is actually the norm today and cutting- edge has become old hat.