I ask this question because I see the art market booming. And every one is buying art or looking at buying it or trying to understand it. But there are so many galleries promoting so many artists, it is difficult to understand what is good or bad. Is there an answer for either when it is all based on opinion. By : tigerhill

It is a difficult question. Since the answer is based on an opinion. But I would say one will need to look at more than 2000 paintings over a period of time to train their eye to spot a great painting or artist. That is why I visit as many shows and galleries as possible. By : Shibani

Der is no term as good art or bad art. Its perceptions. Da word art has a very wide meanings. Check out wat it implies in a dictionary or encyclopedia. One meaning says art is the better way of doing any thing, maybe writing, painting singing. Art has various genres, periods, movements all should be equally respected. Once was the time of academic art, realistic art wen the anatomy mattered alot. a new generation of abstract artist arrive. Pls welcome dem, accept them. wen the old school sees something they cant relate to or figure out wat it is, its labeled bad art. N all great artist were never given justice in der time. Just as the latest ones dont recieve now. Stand in front of a painting, if u fail to see anything good in it, dont worry move ahead. coz the painting also didnt see anything worth in u. U both failed to recognise each other. But u still can try, wait all afternoon, stand in front of it n have long conversations, listen wat it has to say maybe then it will remind u of something within u. n bingo u becom friends. I do By : snehakruti

Art is a form of expression. For me a good painting is the one that can get a reaction out of me. Something that makes me think. It could shock, surprise, amaze or just make me wonder what the artist was thinking while making the work to me that is a good work becuuse the artist has done what he is ment to achieve - capture my attention and stumilate my mind. By : tigerhill

I think that the more ugly a painting the better it is. Since an ugly work is the most difficult to make. There are many artists who can paint a beautiful / decorative / pretty painting. Some become popular, others dont. But how many can paint a powerful work that is not decorative and still grabs attention. for me that is a great painting. An artist like Bacon was one who could pull that off. There are many who hate his works, But that is what makes him a great painter. To be able to get a strong intented emotion like hate for his paintings form their viewers. Not an easy task. Now that is what makes him a great artist. He painted what he liked in a style of his own. He once said Art is artifact and thus needs to look artificial. if it looks real it might as well be a photograph. By : ashwin_u

Well agreeing with all the above I would have to say Surrealistic art is the best since it truly needs a great imagination. Dali the leader in this style has made a strong mark in the international art world. Even Bacon and Picasso workeed in that style. It truly requires a mind and is not just images taken from somewhere. Now thats what makes a great painter By : Shibani

Bad art is decorative art. By : tigerhill

Self thought artists mostly producers of bad art. But sometimes low standard in art eductation results in low quality artworks. Thus bad education is bad but trying to shine without any, hoping to become like the old masters is a bit navive By : ashwin_u

Again, Der is no bad art. Its personal taste of person n his inclination. While respecting one style dont disrespect the other. n art needs variety. Its unique. if all start following the same method or technique it will be art no more but a product of photo copy machine. As for decorative are, check the old architectures in n around mumbai, they r decorated wz floral lines, petals. dat is too decorative rt? Yet v consider it heritage? see the chart papers n cheap gift papers aren’t they decorative. But they hav a beauty in them. the textiles, see the islamic n persian art its full of arabesque "decorative" designs. Try n search da beauty nothing is ugly. even the cheapest art is a result of the fact that taj can’t b afforded or repeated. Who said, wen a person enters an art school n exits it after 5 years he becomes an artist? Is that da only criteria for bcoming an artist. a good academic training. go around the art schools today n hav a look at wat they teach, pseudo. der r exceptions n it depends on how much the st By : snehakruti

Artist do not paint for quick fame. Or there are other options like bollywood n politics. if they earn loads of money especially the older ones. then money factor came as an byproduct they didnt aim for it. Wen M f hussain painted in street lights years ago not for a jackpot but for his higher needs n strivings in life. Money followed dem they didnt follow money. those do r fakes, n they know it in their hearts nobody needs to tell them. By : snehakruti

I love decorative art. I dont like all this intellectual or abstract art. I am afraid i dont understant it. For me a painting should look good when i look at it. If I have to take a second look and it still dosnt click no matter how looked up in the art world the artist. I guess thats me. And for me that is good art. OPINION By : tushar

All said and done. Art is art. Whatever the medium, whatever the genre. Having said that, it is an inescapable fact that in today`s scenario, many artists paint for the lure of the filthy lucre. And that is exactly what has transformed what was once "art" into an investment class. Art can be spoken in the same breath as style. What is style? Style is simply what you are comfortable with. Clothes that suit you and you carry off well, with your own personal touch. That is style. Same too with art. What appeals to you and what you are comfortable with. If you like what you see, would be happy looking at it day in and day out hanging up right there on your wall. That`s art!!! By : Mike

The artists that keep making the same painting over and over again. It just becomes a formula to make money. By : ashwin_u

The artists that keep making the same painting over and over again. It just becomes a formula to make money. By : ramg

BAD ART? The artists that keep making the same painting over and over again. Its like a formula to make money. They take the same basic concept and do it over and over again without any new ideas. After some time you get sick of looking at the same painting. The artist then shall is no longer an artist but becomes a printing machine. Now thats BAD. By : Shibani

I understand what you mean. There are so many artists in India who do that. A lot of the abstract artists!! By : ashwin_u

Art is an expression of conciousness an activity in which your concious, unconcious and subconcious participate the activty is orchastrated by the supra concious as an enactement in TIME. The so called GOOD or BAD Art is aperceptoin of an individual as it is related to feeling generated which has subjectivity and as such has no universal validity SHAILENDRA Artist Bhopal By : shailendra

Buy what you love.. F.. the rest By : ashwin_u

good art, this is something i keep thinking about and still cant understand it. is it the concept that makes a painting or a art work good or is it the style. well it would be a little of both. hummmmm .... isnt good art trying to say something. i think if art is not saying anything it is shit. By : james

no way... a painting dosnt need to say anything... it just needs to look good. and that is the most important thing. it is where it all starts By : ramg

how dum are you. the only people who have done well for themseld and have gained international awarness are the ones that are trying to say something By : Shibani

there are very few artists who are innovative and are still painting something good. the rest are just seeing what is selling abroad and painting the same thing. for the prices some of these young artists are asking they need to come up with something of their own. By : hinduja

I guess a lot of Art is about breaking down the barriers that society places on us to glimpse the animal within. It`s all too easy to offer the viewer a sneak glimpse up Adams loin-cloth without replacing it with a fig, so-to-speak. By : Jal

Bad taste in art doesnt need to be a tacky visual - some really really horrible very bad taste art is often abstract bits of paintwork that is supposed to pass as meaningful. By : ashwin_u

The artists keeping coming up with the most shocking things purely to get attention. They see it as an opportunity to get noticed. By : james

Time is the great healer when it comes to art.Many paintings in the Louvre and the Prado,in Moma and the Met were considered blasphemous, pornographic or crude when first shown.The Chapmans will look very tame in time! By : ramg

"Self-taught" artist is a common producer of bad-taste art, who thinks he can do "contemporary". I think that dispising art education usually results in pitiful pictures. Trying to hide artistic disability by means of "contemporary brushwork" is always transparent. (Bad art school is bad too. The "old masters" look produced by self-taught is even more naive.) By : ashwin_u

It is not that simple with the art education. First, I think,it has to fall on the fertile soil for anything worthy to come out. I know people who graduated after five years of art faculty and are not artists (they can draw and paint, but they don`t know what to do with it). Second, there are bad teachers, and there are bad artists, who teach, and spread the bad taste. One has to find a good school, and a good teacher, to benefit from. Or, hang out with good artists and learn from them. The problem with amateurs is that they either "boil in their own juice" or choose to socialise with the amateurs that make them feel comfortable. By : Shibani

Reading this debate I conclude it`s quite difficult to answer the question what bad taste `is`. Everone is avoiding the question, talking only about motives of bad artists or about the impossibility to judge. Give it a try. I still think good art has a `form` which supports the content which strengtens the form. Interaction. The work convinces as meaningful and true, preferably it contains a new or hidden truth. Of course the work should not be a copy of work by someone else (qua form). Everything else maybe bad taste, kitsch or simply superfluous. Of course these are abstract sentences but maybe someone is able to explain them? By : Jal

Bad art is totally not only a "limited vision". Limited vision, yes, but it is like watching a writer who has nothing to say struggle with the grammar. Are you kind to that and supportive? By : james

Bad taste is when art does not change your way of thinking being So to create tasteful art - nice art - perhaps museum art that fits into the brackets of acceptable is bad art By : Shibani

If your eye sees pleasure,that which is refracted back from the canvas, then quality would be the desired word for that feeling of great contentness !!! By : james

good art should bring enlightenment and comment on life, really good art should change the perception of life around us, really good artists probably don`t know they are doing it. craftworkers don`t make any relevant comment they just make, and this is optimistic, beautiful objects that sit on a table and one day may well appear on boot sale challenge. By : Jal

Good art should make you want to look again & again. By : james

what makes great art , The one thing that we yearn for in our living days, that makes us sigh and groan and undergo sweet nauseas of all kinds, is the remembrance of some lost bliss that was probably experienced in the womb and can only be reproduced by art By : Shibani

art is a medium to communicate to the mankind... what is good what is bad do not come here... it is not the question to be asked... if any art work relates to you whether being decorative or not it is good and if it do not relate to you at all it do not mean that it is bad... may be you haven`t percieved the view point of the artist, his living. his working etc. there are many many complex things going around the head of an artist and what triggers to make him the work he only knows... so perceiving the part of the artist is must to know his creations better. But many a times the artwork speaks for itself as it confronts you directly when seen. By : rahul_prem1