Postmodern art is the art of those who no longer look to the future. When we think of great artists we look backwards, the Rembrandts and Van Goghs haunt our minds as we stand alone with no great artists to call our own. Art movements have come and gone, even the term postmodernism itself, which is nearing 70 years old, is becoming archaic. How then, have we come here? How have we gotten to this point?

Art and capital have been intertwined for as long as they have coexisted. Many of the great works we look back on were funded by wealthy clients or benefactors. Today this relationship still holds true but something has fundamentally changed. In the past, art existed as a way to display wealth and power, through the utilization of beauty and wonder one could become functionally immortal. Grand architectural feats such as the Great Pyramids or the Taj Mahal exist now, still inspiring awe, and forever leaving the names of their creators in our minds. This is no longer the function of art, instead, art today exists to generate wealth. 

The fine arts no longer exist, they have instead been transformed into the currency of the wealthy. The art market has grown to an astronomical size, as of 2024, art sales reached 67.8 billion dollars. Single paintings have reached prices in the hundreds of millions of dollars yet that number is meaningless. Paintings are bought and sold as investments, auction houses and art dealers inflate the value of the art so that the wealthy may write off their cost or stash them for a rainy day. Most of these paintings sit in free ports or vaults, only seeing light on the day that they are bought and sold. The contents of the canvas have become meaningless as they are only there to serve as ornamentations on the dollar. There is no need for great works now when blank canvases and empty pedestals are worth the same.

The same phenomenon is seen in architecture. We see now the grey monoliths that make up the cities across the globe. Regardless of where you are, the cultural makeup of the city, or the place in which the architects were taught, they all look the same. Grey monoliths don’t go out of style, they can’t look dated because there is nothing to date them by, they are not timeless, they simply do not exist in any time. This can also clearly be seen in our daily lives. From cars becoming silver eggs, to fast food chains abandoning their distinctions for a uniform, easily re-sellable, grey. The subtle artistry that exists around us has slowly been traded for grey nothingness in order to maximize value. 

We can try to take solace in our other arts, music, film, newer mediums like video games, but here we see the same trends that plague us in every other facet of our life. The corporatization of these things encroaches upon us like a rot. The superhero film becomes dominant, not for its themes of heroism, but because of its likelihood to return a profit. Franchises and cult classics are constantly rebooted and recycled, not for a lack of talent in the industry, and not for a lack of artists who dedicate themselves to their craft, but because they are almost guaranteed to sell tickets, and increase shareholder value. Music for the most part is the same, labels and managers manufacture artists to maximize profitability. Rockstars, popstars, bedroom poppers, and punk rockers are all created, tailored to fit their audiences, and sold to line the pockets of the corporate shareholders. 

We have lived in this reality for so long that it can be difficult to imagine a better one, difficult to imagine a hopeful future, but it is there. There are talented artists who create what will inevitably be seen as our defining movement. Our lives are awash with the corporate grey but it is within ourselves to create better for ourselves so that we may look into a brighter future. It may seem like nothing, but every dream put into your art is a stride towards a better future. It seems hopeless, like there is no art left to be made, but it is there within everyone, all you have to do is anything you can to let it free. 

Art is dead, art remains dead, it rests squarely at the feet of capital, and it is up to us to revive it.