Roger Scruton has an excellent piece here on the nature of modern art (it’s fake and kitsch), how to discern real art, why people fake it in both art and life, and the danger of the cult of originality and authenticity.
If you’re under the impression that the realm of aesthetics holds no objective beauty, truth, and goodness, and thus no real connection to the rest of life, then Scruton will make no sense to you here. If you think that beauty is merely, purely, solely in the eye of the beholder, this will sound strange… but it’s tremendously important that you consider what Scruton has to say.