My Take ...

“Genius is often misunderstood”, they say. True. And yet, do we stop to ponder how many, today, are artists/philosophers/poets/intellectuals in the true sense? These epithets I use, are rather lose in their definition, given that a piece of art may be totally useless today but might be deemed a masterpiece by the next generation. Whom do we call a celebrity? One who’s art or creativity or thoughts we appreciate at a given point of time. But what if a person is “ahead of his/her time”? Are we capable of judging him/her? Our benchmarks are only as good as we are. A number of reputed fashion designers or artists (mark, I do not say all or most) of the day lack basic aesthetic sense. It is also important to note, that society has a way of either celebrating or condemning what it does not understand fully. Hence, the controversy.

I am reminded here of Plato’s book, “The Republic”. He tells the tale of cavemen who live their chained existence in the belief that shadows are reality. When one man breaks free and leaves the cave to find a vivid world outside and tries to educate them he is ostracized. This is part of the reason why meaningful movies never make it at the box office. But looking at the other side, I find it extremely easy for people to pass off as an intellectual or an artist, given that the masses lack the basic knowledge to judge them by. How many people really know of Cubism and Postmodernism? General notions, often wrong ones, are picked up and pseudo-critics rule the roost. Do we teach our children literature and art and music? Are we capable of making informed judgments? Unless we are, there will be controversies.