What Does it Mean for Art to be “Relevant”?

Brian Wolly | Smithsonian Second Opinion | 10th August 2018

Jay Nordlinger, a noted US critic, opines on some art sector anxieties. Does society need art? “Society in general would be poorer without art … or at least I think. But it’s a matter of individual choice.” Should art be relevant our current times? “[T]his mania, this fashion, this fad for relevance is bizarre. The best art speaks for all time and is timeless. It’s beyond time and place”.