Ignorance

 

One day a young lady came to me.

” I wan to learn Modern art. ”

She asked me.

” What do you mean by Modern art? ” I asked her.

” … modern art … modern art … ” she didn’t know what to say.

Simply she was bewildered.

I waited for her reply.

After few moments of confusion, she came out with an answer. ” Modern art is … something, artist expresses in a free manner, which does not need to follow any rules. ”

” Which rules are you talking about? ” I asked her, trying to know what’s in her mind.

” We don’t need to bother about drawing, we don’t need to worry about strict painting methods. Just we paint the way we like. ”

I didn’t talk anything immediately. I was silent for some time, then I asked her, ” Who said to you modern art is like that? ”

” … many said. ”a little bit of hesitancy in her voice.

” It’s a wrong notion, ” I tried to explain her in a sympathetic tone. ”whatever happened in  art in the period of 1860 to 1970, related to experimenting with different materials, ideas was called Modern art. So many isms and styles were there. Every artist understood the rules. You could not call them as rules, call them as ‘ Language of art’. Take for example Picasso, do you think he didn’t apply the rules in his works? He applied it in every work of his. Not only he, other artist’s also did the same, whether they are Abstract art, Fauvism, Futurism, Expressionism, Suprematism or Surrealism, whatever they are, those artists followed language of art, which you called ‘ Rules. ‘So if you want to learn modern art, first you learn language of art. Then whatever way you want to express your emotions, you go with it. ”

Again a few minutes silence,

She asked me, ” I have understood what you said is true but … I am confused. Then why are they saying that you can learn modern art without bothering about any rules? ”

  I smiled at her, and said… ” Ignorance. ”