When I was a little kid, my mom once told me the story of the Emperor's new clothes. For those who don't really know it... I guess my generation sure as hell would know all about the story, but the current Yuppie kids - I have my own doubts... on account of their preoccupation with Pokemon, Need for speed (I hear my nephew screaming - Chittiiiii those are sooooo old!!! Today's kewl game is Call of Duty). Ah yes Call of Duty! Wasn't this the game that the Canadian boy was glued to, which his folks in a traditional 'uncool parent' way prevented him from playing, with the terrible result that the kid ran away from home? How do I know this? Well, because Microsoft has offered a reward of $50,000 for anyone with information about the kid! Incidentally the game was on his xbox console - and all these nuggets of news have made it to the Indian media. So the Emperor's new clothes is a fairy tale of a vain king who gets conned by 3 clothes makers who make him new 'clothes', that can only be seen by the wise! So even the king can't see those clothes, but he is scared to admit that fact, since that would mean that he himself is foolish....
I was reminded of this story not so long ago. I have had a modest brush with modern art. I remember rendering one of my sister's beautiful scenery paintings into a piece of modern art, when as a kid I knocked over a bottle of bright purple paint onto her sheet. What followed thereafter, is left to your imagination. But a friend of mine recently bought a Mark Rothko - Earth and Green. She was very very proud of her acquisition of modern art. She kept raving to me about how each time she'd stare at the painting, new meanings would erupt! Wow! I took a look at that painting - a deep long look. A sideways look, an upside down look. And no meaning leaped out at me. The painting - a white background, with a dark green rectangle beneath a brick red rectangle! But I was too stumped to admit the fact that I just didn't understand it. I thought about it over and over again, and somehow, just couldn't piece the puzzle! Mr Rothko sure can give old man Da Vinci a run for his money, in the puzzles and riddles domain!!! After so many hours, days and months of thought, I guess I finally have to agree - that I am silly enough to just not understand MODERN ART!!!!!
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