History will frown on the art of our times

Dear Editor:

Over time, the appreciation of art in all of its forms has been subjective (beauty being in the eye of the beholder), and history has proved to be the ultimate arbiter of what is truly great and enduring art and what is not.

Every age has produced its own versions of superior and inferior art and art forms, our age is different only in scale and medium … virtually unlimited scale (Christo) and medium (subway graffiti and assemblages of throw-away plastic bottles represented as art).

In a hundred years time, whoever is reviewing images of most of the art produced in the late 20th and early 21st centuries with a knowledgeable and critical eye will likely despair, not because most of it now resides in countless landfills (good riddance), but at its overall lack of intrinsic artistic quality and lasting value. Signs of the times, I presume?

Times clearly reflected in the current efforts by some in Aspen to erect for all to be annoyed by an inappropriately designed edifice to house and exhibit numerous examples of pathetic attempts to create works of art that by all compelling historical standards are totally devoid of merit.

Peter Bergh

Edwards