Over the last few decades, the concept of “art appreciation” has evolved into “arts appreciation”. The original idea was about producing criticism for the visual arts exclusively. The new idea regards developing criticism and appreciation for all artistic mediums, everything from traditional fine arts to the application of technology.
The idea of arts criticism has been prevalent in the minds of patrons and artists from Generation X, Millennials, and Generation Z. In academia many students from these generations prefer to observe and complete assignments through arts criticism as a framework. This also has a real-world impact as it changes the way that patrons and artists will approach their specific medium.
Although there have been many artists who have spoken about their adoption of arts criticism, some occurrences are more easily recalled than others. One of the most memorable occurrences has been singer Sinead O’Connor’s withdrawal from music award ceremonies because she did not feel that they supported real artist, instead she found that their decisions on who wins an award is based on material success and she famously wanted nothing to do with that. This occurred back in 1991, but it is still an important issue today as most award ceremonies for any artistic medium is based on popularity, number of streams and other methods that do not consider the evaluation of art at its core. Today, it is important to ask the question, “was Sinead O’Connor Right about Arts Appreciation?”
Probably her most famous withdrawal was the upcoming Grammy Awards and the British equivalent because she thought that each show focused on “false and destructive materialistic values.” Her album I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got was up for many awards and she was set to perform her number one hit Nothing Compares to You when she removed herself from contention. She acknowledges that her work received several nominations but she said in the media that she would not accept any awards even if she were to win because they represent everything she doesn’t stand for.
“As artists I believe our function is to express the feelings of the human race–to always speak the truth and never keep it hidden even though we are operating in a world which does not like the sound of the truth,” O’Connor said.
“I believe that our purpose is to inspire and, in some way, guide and heal the human race, of which we are all equal members.”
“They acknowledge mostly the commercial side of art. They respect mostly material gain, since that is the main reason for their existence,” she added. “And they have created a great respect among artists for material gain–by honoring us and exalting us when we achieve it, ignoring for the most part those of us who have not.”
Michael Green, President of the Recording Academy commented that “We applaud that Sinead feels so strongly about these issues and believe that her convictions only add to the seriousness of her work. But she may be misguided.
“We respect her immensely as an artist. In fact, her first exposure on national television (in the US) was on the Grammy show in 1989.
“But I’m afraid that Sinead may not be properly informed about the difference between the overtly commercial aspects of popularity contests as opposed to the Grammys, which are voted on by the creative community.”
O’Connor responded in the media with “I am not criticizing the Grammys in particular,” she said. “I am criticizing the music industry. I am criticizing my peers . . . artists who are not doing their job
“Thousands of children are starving to death every day . . . children are being beaten up because of problems in society . . . children are being sexually abused and emotionally abused, people are living in the streets. It’s not enough anymore to just sit in your chair and say, ‘Yeah, it’s terrible.’
“Musicians are in a position to help heal this sickness, but I’d say 90% of the artists in the music business fail in that responsibility.”
“You must acknowledge if you are an artist that you are a role model for young people, whether you like it or not. If you don’t want to accept that responsibility, you shouldn’t be an artist. With power comes responsibility.
“The industry, including awards shows, sends out the message that selling more records is good rather than telling the truth.
“Honoring commercial success is the obvious purpose of the American Music Awards telecast, but it’s also the intent of the Grammys as well.
“I think if artists were to be awarded for what they had achieved in so far as telling the truth . . . as far as healing the human race, then I’d say Van Morrison or Ice Cube, people like that should be honored.”
O’Connor wrote a letter to the Academy and asked “How can we communicate with and help the human race when we have allowed ourselves to be taken out of the world and placed above it?
“We are allowing ourselves to be portrayed as being in some way more important, more special than the very people we are supposed to be helping–by the way we dress, by the cars we travel in, by the ‘otherworldliness’ of our shows and by a lot of what we say in our music.”
She said in an interview, “If the music industry is the microcosm and the world is the macrocosm, the same reasons why this world is now at war and the same reasons why this world abuses its children and the same reasons why people are homeless and are starving . . are the same reasons that the music industry will gather in Radio City Music Hall for the Grammy ceremonies.
“How can we sit there hoping to win a Grammy when we have failed in our duty as artists to speak the truth. And as a result, humanity is destroying itself. I feel humanity is on the brink of destruction because we do not care about each other. All we care about is material success. And we have stepped over and ignored everything that was ever important to us in order to achieve it.”
Some in the media thought that O’Connor was being hypocritical because she made an appearance at the MTV Awards and American Music Awards. She explained “I signed my record deal when I was 17 and it has taken me this time to gather enough information and mull it over and reach a conclusion–and this action represents my decision. I could not have reached the decision without being part of the things I am now talking about.”
There are more artists today that have similar beliefs to O’Connor’s than back in the late 80s and early 90s. The unfortunate issue is that today’s technology makes is more efficient for award shows to give out prizes based on the number of streams and other technical metrics that have nothing to do with the evaluation of art. As for O’Connor, she has converted to Islam and is creating new music under an Arabic name, Shuhada Sadaqat. She is still performing and continues to be vocal about her thoughts on arts appreciation.