LOL! I still don't agree, Raphael & Ravenwing. I will agree that some modern art is downright ugly. However, I believe that art doesn't have to be beautiful to be good art. (I'm thinking here of the many paintings, expertly rendered, of ship wrecks. All I can think when I see one is, "Oh no! Those poor people on board!")
Also, I will argue that there was plenty of art produced in past centuries that was praised at the time of its creation, only to be criticized in later years as too sentimental, too perfect, or too
something. There was, too, a lot of art that was panned when new (Think of the Impressionists.) that is now loved by the general public and celebrated by art historians.
The reaction many people have to the work of the American artist, Andy Warhol, is "Huh? You've got to be kidding!" Yet, I love most of his stuff and I'm not alone in admiring it.
The glass art of Dale Chihuly is widely and justifiably praised. Most of his works are a delight for the eyes, but there is one piece at a university in a nearby city that looks like nothing so much as a bunch of blue plastic grocery bags caught on a telephone pole.
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3622/3429176587_ae4b8b8a25.jpg I chuckle to myself whenever I drive past it and enjoy the work, but probably not in the way the artist intended.
I also love most the work of Jacque Louis David (Whenever I visit the Cleveland Museum of Art I have to visit "Cupid and Psyche! I love the execution of the theme, the colors used, the very geometry in the painting. I love that Cupid is portrayed as a cheeky teenager who thinks he's getting away with something.)
http://www.inquisition21.com/pca_1978/img/cupidpsyche.jpg I wonder how the painting was received when it was new. Most of the artist's works are very serious with this being a notable and delightful -- at least to me -- departure.
Again, the world is a big place and there is room here for all kinds of art and music.