if you read my take on the demise of classical music and whether today's music is an evolution of it or a cousin then this will make more sense. i think modern art and classical art followed the same trend. classical art, like classical music was commissioned by the wealthy. the artist could then devote a portion of his life to creating a requested art piece. today's art is more a work of the artist himself. it is whatever he wants and not what a cultured, elite, wealthy person told him to create. there are less fancy looking polished art pieces because the demand is no longer there. cultured rich people are no longer commissioning them. how and why could and would a starving artist build a twelve foot perfect statue of a roman goddess? he hasn't the money or the burning desire to do so. so now all we have for art is globs of paint flicked on a canvas. and so there you go.