One of the more interesting aspects of 20^th century pop and rock was the way the pendulum swung from the airy-fairy to the hardnosed, from the mystical search for the soul to a down in the gutter sensibility. One could be seen as the antithesis of the other and certainly the shift from hippiedom to punk to glam rock to 80s austerity marked distinct points in social thinking.  Something of the same could be said for art as Minimalism tried to quash the romantic expressiveness of gestural painting only to return to a variation of it in pop art and the eccentricities of Koons. Today, it is much harder to discern such changes in taste and sensibility in the free-for-all that is the art world. Interestingly though, a recent conference in London involving some 1500 representatives of conservative religion from 70 nations looked at ways to reclaim the values of western civilisation on which, of course, the Western Tradition of art was based. The central premise being discussed was the reinstating of Christian moral life and a social order based on the family, responsibility and patriarchal oversight. The myth of a golden age persists it seems.

For much of the five hundred years after the middle-ages, the church dictated the path of art coupled with platonic ideals of geometry, symmetry, a strong sense of mathematical harmony, idealism and a search for the ultimate truths of nature. Historians call this the Western Tradition in art and it probably came to an end somewhere in the middle of the 20^th century. Some critics suggest that the advent of post-modernism saw its end, but the moderns created an alternate path much earlier than that with the likes of Cubism in terms of composition and the shift into personal, non-religious angst among the varieties of Expressionists and Surrealists.  Inevitably the art before the modern era combined biblical themes and morality inside the geometrically aligned box or frame. While the box frame persists as a mode of capturing the world, art based upon religious precepts has largely been abandoned.

Social division, rising inequality and loss of trust in institutions is endemic in the 21^st century and values supposedly inherent in the Western Tradition are still only for those in a society who recognise money and power as guiding principles.

Concerns about democracy, liberty, equality, human rights, political pluralism, religious tolerance, and advocacy of subcultures and countercultures are all hallmarks of a fractured society that has evolved largely due to mass migration. While populations remained within specific borders, social and political control and control of art was promulgated by a handful of individuals who decided what art and life was supposed to be. Art was essentially hijacked to prop up specific regimens. Those controls have mostly vanished in the wake of all-pervasive electronic communication. Governments and the church no longer dictate culture or the subtext. AI courtesy of the tech industry may well establish a foothold and will assume a set of underpinning values no matter the beliefs of its owners even when Facebook has been forced into blocking material deemed to be offensive. Nudity, for instance, is probably more taboo now than during the centuries of the Western Tradition when the ancient Greeks, Michaelangelo and Manet could use naked forms, albeit for different reasons. Naked humans of either gender in art are now seen as the products of manipulation and exploitation or the avatars of a loss of privacy.

Would realigning art to fit a conservative agenda actually work? It may in some quarters amplify the importance of portraiture, genre painting and idealised landscapes but the conservatism of both genres comes not from shared moral values but a belief in holding up a mirror to nature and a technique of imitation. Fashion and taste may also play a part in acceptability but art as social control on a major scale is unlikely.  What is more likely is the control by elements of the art industry such as museums and curators who impose random choices. This has nothing to do with universal values, conservative or otherwise, and to grant priest-like status to artpreneurs merely fuels the belief in art as a commodity.

A survey of contemporary art magazines such as Art Review, Art Forum and Art Link presents a view of art as anachronistic, individual to the point of indulgence and often so obscure that it comes across as incomprehensible without a written guide. Much seems to be a steeped in irony. If there is an underlying equivalent of Western Tradition morality in today’s free-for-all and every ‘man’ for himself philosophy that would be surprising. The only measure of ‘good’ art it seems is its value as a commodity.  Would the pendulum swing and embrace an art based upon conservative values again? For some sections of the population the pendulum doesn’t exist and conservatism reigns supreme. A society moving inexorably to the right of politics may well decide that certain forms of art are unacceptable just as worthy burghers and concerned citizens oversaw the removal of offensive statuary and a rewriting of history.

The separation of art and society has never been wider but rather than protests in the street or revolutions those qualms will quietly be ignored as artists go about their business oblivious to public opinion and only talking to each other until another art auction price is exceeded beyond reason or another banana is hung on the wall. It may not be the advent of a return to conservatism or the underlying principles of the Western Tradition but there is still the ‘pub test’ to navigate and the ‘man’ in the street knows what constitutes art and always has.

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