i think one of the biggest disconnects between contemporary art, and art in internet culture, as art movements, is the meaning thing. 

basically: contemporary art is made by people with art degrees. whether intentional or not, a lot of it is only really understandable by people with art degrees. it’s about the message and the meaning as much or more than what the artwork looks like/sounds like/whatever. 

contemporary art has a Reputation among people who are not in the art world. people dont get it/think it’s ugly/think it’s pretentious/etc. obviously not all contemporary artwork, but you get the idea. i think contemporary art (but also earlier movements that were kinda doing similar things) also kinda has issues where like… if the idea is the important thing, youve gotta come up with a whole new idea that no one’s had before for every artwork. so you end up with a ton of art which is shocking for the sake of being shocking etc. which for me is just kinda… yaaaaaaawn. edgelord stuff. anyway.

art in internet culture absolutely, 100%, has its roots in fanart of one kind or another. you don’t make fanart, generally, because you have some statement to make about society – you make it because you like the thing. that’s it. artists in internet culture also mostly dont have art degrees – they have the same amount of art/art history knowledge as the average person. which lets them make art without centuries of artwank baggage!! that’s so cool!! but it also makes art that is easily understood and liked by the average person. 

i have no idea what anish kapoor’s bean is supposed to be about, but i sure as heck know what’s going on with someone’s drawing of charizard. it’s about charizard. they probably like charizard. there’s not some super deep meaning there. even the stuff which does have extra meaning to the artist – because of course people make stuff with more meaning – it’s based on the foundation of “drawing a picture that looks neat” rather than “saying something”. i might not know what was going on in your life when you drew that vent art, but it’s still a cool looking demon wolf oc.

also, im not sure how to connect it exactly, but it is related, people making art on the internet generally start comparatively young (12yos drawing is not uncommon. that is so young in the scheme of things) and start by being bad. and being bad at art in internet culture is like…. your friends are also bad at art, but you’re having fun, and there’s art just like yours, some a little better, some a little worse, all over the place, literally everywhere. and like. it’s the two cakes thing. i dont want to see the one good, best picture of karkat. i want to see all of them!! i want to keep seeing pictures of karkat!! i dont care if some of them aren’t perfect. 

compare that to being a professional artist, where you get popular, maybe, with your best work only, as an adult. and you only see others’ good stuff. idk, it’s different.