Modernists deem themselves specifically as marauders against "the system", against traditional meanings and conventions. usually, their work is situated as a reaction against technique, the less savvy call it 'machine culture', against the "wage slave" imperatives of modern society, against defragmentation of the social polity by <i>modern technical society</i>, and - in marxist parlance - against the exploitive classes. Sometimes, these same are embraced as liberation. I agree that they are continuing totalitarian narratives embedded in christianity, basically secularizing the christian story of the new jerusalem, the utopia. It is an attempt to 'fragment' to make control easier, to impart specific (as opposed to vague) <i>meaning</i>, and then to refashion.
I personally think there was no separate art culture in India; "art" was embedded in the cultural practices of the people. In the west, we know the names of a polykleitos of the idealized form, Scopas of impressionistic form, the posthellenists of the naturalistic form, and so on. we don't know the name of even one Indian artist. Not even a single one. Romans plunderd greece for their art. we have nothing of same in India, other than occasionally shifting the temple deities around.
I personally think there was no separate art culture in India; "art" was embedded in the cultural practices of the people. In the west, we know the names of a polykleitos of the idealized form, Scopas of impressionistic form, the posthellenists of the naturalistic form, and so on. we don't know the name of even one Indian artist. Not even a single one. Romans plunderd greece for their art. we have nothing of same in India, other than occasionally shifting the temple deities around.