Artist Roman Signer unveils his sand bucket sculpture.

What do you think about his work? pic.twitter.com/JFc7TYPfdG

— SULLY (@SULLY10X) January 11, 2025

If you think knocking over a stack of sand-filled buckets qualifies as artwork, then Roman Signor is an artist. He stacks containers of sand in a column, allows gravity to act, and then waits for the applause. And (with prompting) he gets it. People clap like he’s Michelangelo reincarnated (though possibly drunk). This is what happens when you believe that everyone gets to make up their own truth. Anything (literally anything) can be a masterpiece.

“John, you jerk! People have different tastes. It’s not right to criticize another person’s creative effort!”

How do you know it’s not right? Where did that rule come from? The same subjectivity that allows an artist to christen a pile of sand as “a bold statement about humanity” also allows me to christen it “a bold misuse of beach real estate.” If every opinion is equally valid, then my opinion about garbage artwork is also valid. That’s how the game works, folks. Criticism is my artistic expression.

Our culture is marinating in the belief that personal preference is the highest authority. We’re told that’s inclusive, tolerant, and loving. But…who decided that inclusivity and tolerance is the goal? I prefer to exclude people with lousy taste in art. I don’t like tolerating people with different preferences. I prefer to be selfish and comfortable. There’s no way I can integrate into any group without compromise. Somebody is going to surrender their preferences.

We pay a price when we eliminate standards for the sake of “freedom.” We think we’ll get creativity, clarity, and authenticity but that’s not what happens. We get chaos, confusion, and despair. Clapping for a stack of fallen buckets makes us feel silly whether we admit it or not. There’s no satisfaction in pretending ugly things are beautiful and we can’t seem to convince ourselves there is no such thing as ‘ugly.’

You can only clap for overturned buckets for so long before something inside you whispers, “This is lame.” We aren’t wired to thrive on make-believe standards and self-invented truths. We crave something solid enough to lean on. Sooner or later, we’re going to have to face these facts: beauty is real, truth is real, and reality does not bend to our feelings.

(Judges 21:25) In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.