WE CURRENTLY LIVE IN A GOLDEN AGE OF ART WITHOUT EVEN REALIZING IT
The overwhelming amount of stimulation available today has distracted us from another important fact: that we’re living in a golden age of art and creativity.
The business model in the art/entertainment world used to be extremely hierarchical. Either you were some random Jane Doe fighting for scraps in the local bar scene, or you were Michael Jackson, building a goddamn amusement park to greater express your complex shades of pedophilia. There was no in-between. You were either a superstar, or you were broke.
Today, there’s almost nothing but the middle. I can get on Spotify and immediately discover half a dozen obscure bands that play exactly the kind of weird music that I’m into… AND those obscure bands can at least make a part-time living off of it.10 I can get online and binge-watch foreign documentaries with little to no effort. Even Hollywood seems to have had a few new ideas for the first time in eight years. 2019 was actually a great year for film!11
Since Hollywood hardly even tries to come up with anything original anymore, why not?
People have said for years that television is in a new golden age. Publishing has quietly entered into a new golden age, with record sales for most of the decade and a resurgence of glue-and-paper books. Millions of books have been self-published and you can now start a blog in a matter of seconds, not hours or weeks, like a decade ago.
It is the best time ever to be an artist. If you’re good, it is easier than ever before to get your work out there and acknowledged.
It is also the best time ever to consume art. It’s cheaper and more available than ever before. It’s easier to find new things to experiment with and it’s easier to support the artists than ever before. If you care at all about good art and entertainment, there is no better time to be alive.