"Artists That HAVE Lost The CREATIVE PLOT."

Not actually my title but a group conversation on the artreview website. I love what a lot of the people are saying in this group.
One thing that really got my attention and put things into perspective in a way that I could never put so clearly is this:

"The way contemporary art has developed makes it difficult to have an open and free debate within it.
You cannot object to any work without the risk of excluding yourself further and further from the art circle.
If we point fingers at what we think is silly art etc. we actually become part of the audience for the work, part of its reception, part of its effect. Likewise if we support the work.
There is no genuine dialogue space for communication. We are being giving socially forced alternatives of support/object.
I think we should object to the power relationships, unfreedom and lack of open debate that make these recurrence 'controversies' such a routine part of the our cultural landscape.
Ultimately, we need is a sense that art and artists can have a real role in the world making things better.
At the moment art just seems to be one sideshow amongst many (as in Kafka's micro story The Hunger Artist)." -Rob Van Beek

It could be said, with or without irony, that the viewers/critics are being censored by the art world. If someone has an opinion that does not agree with their opinion than the argument of relativism is brought up; when someone agrees with them it is no longer relativity that is brought up but Truth!
I'd love to see this period in the art world survive without artists statements. I think many critics base their reviews on the statements more than the art, and many artists focus more on the clarity of their words more than the images and ideas conveyed in their art. It's preposterous!