race & gender criticism

“One could argue that the art of disempowered peoples should be judged by the same aesthetic standards as the art of the powerful. But it can also be argued that the criticism of art is based on aesthetic principles developed in the mainstream of Western culture. How then [should we] judge quality in works that are not part of that tradition?”

1:  What the quote is saying is that some people think we should judge everyone’s art equally, no matter what. But at the same time its confusing because if art is based on principles made by the western culture how are we suppose to judge?

2: One situation I picture is that of an upcoming artist presenting his artwork, but his artwork is different. It is something we have not seen before, not structured and clean, this artwork has dementions and textures. It shows his culture and how his people are. The thing is that we look at his art as not being different and unique, but as being weird because we have not been exposed to it before. 

3: The thing is that, I do not think that a society can fix this. Because to us as humans there is always going to be a right or wrong way of looking at things. And if we are are not exposed to diversity, and are only exposed to Western art we will most likely not except the new.