Language Language

I feel that there is a lot of truth in the words of John Waters. Personally, his point about the vocabulary of the visual arts was particularly insightful. As a person who for the past few years studied the formation and structure of various language systems, I cannot agree more.  If I had to compare contemporary art to a living language, it would have to be ASL.  This connection goes beyond just its visual aspects.  Sign Language has until very recently been thought of as being comprised of a simple set of gestures which mime the language of the hearing.  Similarly, Contemporary art is often thought of as being a crude bastard offspring of the past generations of artists by the layperson.   Study the structures of ASL and its amazing to find that each word is actually made up of smaller parts just like spoken language but wholly separate from English spoken in America.  As Waters says, contemporary art has its own vocabulary and syntax which an individual must learn before they can decide whether or not to hate or love a piece. The culture that surrounds Sign Language is, however, perhaps even more exclusive than the Contemporary art world.  This piece by John Waters might argue the opposite.