/lit/ - Literature

>>11213189
in the most general sense, art is completely subjective, since it's good or bad-ness is completely determined by a variable set of backgrounds, values, likes, needs, desires, etc for each person.
HOWEVER, humans as a collective form a certain taste, have things that most individuals agree on, certain things that have a reported psychological or even physiological positive/negative effects, etc. art can be meaningfully compared to one another within these values.
it becomes really difficult to compare things though when art subverts these general values on purpose. often experimental/subversive art is pleasant for those who have seen too much of the normal "good" art that they're tired of it and want to see something new, and then this art can be good or bad within this new community of values and backgrounds.
i feel like this is also where pretension comes in. pretension is when you pretend to be tired of the normal stuff so that you seem more studied than you actually are. this is valid for both the artist and the consumer, both of whom can pretend to be "above" normal art.