Contemporary art is not just a bunch of rubbish

"Why disparage contemporary art and its creators to the point of making a fool of oneself?" asks Belgian visual artist Marie-Paule Haar, responding to Léon Doyen, who, in a commentary in the same newspaper on April 19, questioned the validity of contemporary art. "Why do so many people, with their oh-so-proper old-style furnishings, have so much trouble stepping into their own century when it comes to art and latter-day creation as a whole? ... Can we make our way through the current century while continuing to surround ourselves with the 'young woman with a water-jug', or the 'chubby-cheeked cherubs' of the Italian Renaissance? The artist has always been a privileged witness of his age and he expresses it through his work, whether pleasing or not. ... If certain people find current art not to their liking, is it not rather that they have a problem with the entire age in which they live?"

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