On October 20, 2006, NPR ran a story about "art" during their All Things Considered evening program.  It was about an exhibition in London's Tate Modern Gallery -- and here's a link to the story: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6355028   During the program, several patrons were interviewed, some saying the slides weren't really art, some saying they were, and so forth.  One young woman said that "art is whatever the artist says it is".  The reporter agreed and that was how the piece ended.  So, in 2006, "art is whatever the artist says it is."  From what I've come to understand, this sentiment is consistent with the movement within the humanities, over the past 100+ years, FROM art as a creative activity or its result, where images and objects, sights and sounds, drawings and carvings, convey the beauty and splendor of the world, and in so doing elevates our interpretation of the world and of ourselves from mere subjective description or narrative, to the sublime -- TO -- "art is whatever the artist says it is".  In the past, art was seen as a way to lift our spirits, to built us up, to help us see what is most beautiful and most good in our world, and in our experience as human beings.  This has, over the past century, as Fred Ross (Chairman of the Art Renewal Center, http://www.artrenewal.org/index.html)  put it so well, "sadly devolved ever downwards into a distorted, contrived and contorted notion of freedom of expression. Freedom of expression? Ironically, this so-called "freedom" as embodied in Modernism, rather than a form of "expression" in truth became a form of "suppression" and "oppression." Modernism as we know it, ultimately became the most oppressive and restrictive system of thought in all of art history.  Every reasonable shred of order and any standards with which it was possible to identify, understand and to create great paintings and sculpture, was degraded ... detested ... desecrated and eviscerated. The backbone of the painters' craft, namely drawing, was thrown into the trash along with modeling, perspective, illusion, recognizable objects or elements from the real world, and with it the ability to capture, exhibit, and poetically express subjects and themes about mankind and the human condition and about man's trials on this speck of stardust called Earth ... Earth, hurtling through infinity with all of us along on board, along with everything we know and everything we hold dear."  I believe that this trend (in the art world) reflects very accurately the other social and cultural trends that dominated the 20th century -- i.e. humanism, existentialism, nihilism, hedonism, and relativism.  Since EVERYTHING is relative, since there is no intrinsic meaning in anything -- except for the meaning I subjectively assign -- since nothing really matters -- since this is all there is -- since there is no God and no eternity -- since everything, including life itself, arose by chance; then there is no reason for beauty, no reason to look to (and for) the sublime, no reason to challenge one another to reach for the stars -- to do good, to see good, to help one another, to love one another.  Tearing down and destroying and sullying everything and everyone is exactly equivalent -- there is no difference -- nothing matters.  Well, as you can see, I couldn't disagree more.  I think we do matter, that life has meaning, that there is beauty in this world and in each of us -- and I want to encourage you and challenge you to be the best you can be and to reach for the stars.  I want to view and appreciate fine art -- because it really is fine; because it elevates, it challenges, it is awe-inspiring, and takes our breath away; as opposed to turning our hearts and minds to the gutter, inviting us to step down into the cesspool along with the artist, in their exercise of their "freedom of expression".  No, let's climb up out of the cesspool, cleanse ourselves (with God's help and by God's grace), look ever upward, and determine we will not enter that place of filth ever again.  Mark Zacharias