Fine art is elite and academic and snobby and well, how do I say this bluntly?  it is the finest, the best of all the artforms out there.  Fine art is not everywhere, it is not for everyone.  It chooses to reside in the avant-garde galleries and museums of the world.  I have always loved this arrogant quality of my beloved modern and post-modern art, so elite so separatist so bold.  Fine art is beautiful and complicated and historical.  It has a past and a powerful present and it has been elevated to a level where it peers down upon all others with judgmental eyes. I can talk about the loftiness of fine art in-depth, because I myself am a soldier in the well-trained army of the fine art elitist snobbery.  

I paid good money to go to a fine art school with traditions and rules and regulations on who belonged and who did not.  I learned exactly what good art is and definitely what it is not.  I have an MFA degree in Fine Art, so I feel justified when I impart the sacredness of fine art to all who will listen. So long Elite French Salon of the past, you’ve got nothing on us post-modern art snobs of today!  We are powerful and happy to be a part of the historical elitism! I will stare you down and set you straight any day.  In fact, this is all out war.  

Nothing gets us artists more defensive than a commercial illustrator strolling onto the battlefield with their cool vintage jackets and digital tablets.  We despise their hip graphics and childish comic book art:  all of it the handy work of the devil. Everything they stand for offends our fine artist sensibilities. We cannot tolerate casual conversation with such lowly designers and illustrators.  We will only debate, we will fight to keep them off our land.  We must protect the sacred title of fine artist.  Their work is “kitsch”, we cry!  It is not art-that’s blasphemy. We battle, we war, we argue, we draw the line in the sand.  We can never get together. 

Yet….. I did just that! I married an illustrator who I self-importantly kicked out of fine art school back in the early 90’s.  He most definitely did not belong. At that time, fine art and graphic art respectfully took their own sides, had their own buildings and rarely crossed paths.  The universe was right and all was well in the fine art realm.  My husband went his way graphically and I held my ground artistically.  As far as art went at our house, it was only for arguing. 

Today, the battle for elite fine art has dwindled in-spite-of my every effort to keep the war alive. Oh, the audacity of this younger generation.  The students of today, they have no fight in them.  They think everything is art.  Their technology world has surrounded them with digital illustration and fine art all on the same platform, so they call ALL of it art… let me sound the alarm again! They call EVERYTHING art! This should be a call to arms-the new battle front! But… they will not take up the weapons of war or engage the argument.  They are too busy casually using their stylus tools at the local coffee shop.  They think this old semantics battle is not their fight.  So, us artist elites, we taunt them, we bait them with our art history battle, yet they have their own things going down and they just don’t care. They have their Tumblr and Pinterest and accept Manga or Anime as readily as they embrace the master artists. They wield their digital tablets and paint palettes equally with no shame or apology.  They are these fusion artist kids with no fight for elitism.  They don’t even know they are traitors. 

Now that fine art has turned this abysmal corner, thanks to the next generation, it can never really go back to its former glorious elitist haughtiness and I am sad. Pack up the weapons, the fight is over, these kids today, they just love everything and see no battle. So, what are the snobby artists left to do? What is our cause now? There really is no battle without young soldiers to fight.  I am frankly too exhausted.  I guess I will just go home to my ipad and make some art.