at this point I think it's 100% legitimate to simply answer "what is the point of ugly abstract art?" with "it's an antifascist statement."
and I don't just mean that like oh, because it always makes fascists, like, inordinately angry relative to the actual cultural impact of abstract expressionism
see this video if you have a half hour free for a much more coherent argument
but there is a mistake that I think a lot of art defenders make when someone, whether actually fascist or just a hater, gets all into "my kid could make that"
which is to argue that this work deserves a place on the meritocracy because it is hard, because it is objectively beautiful, because here's a color field painting that's actually a very rare deep color in person, and here's a piece of conceptual art that's heartbreaking once you understand the full story,
and often that's true especially when you're talking about high-profile works in museums
but that's not the point
the point is fuck a single prescribed way to live a Correct Life. the point is fuck a monoculture with one standard of Good Art. the point is to be exposed to things you don't understand. the point is to be exposed to things you don't like, even. in the art museum as on the street.
and on a level that's maybe harder to explain... fuck the idea that quality, that expertise, that productivity are what make a thing worthwhile. did you study hard for that painting that feels like your childhood. did you put in billable hours on that photograph that looks like fear. is it the best, that sculpture that cries out to be touched.
and more than anything, fuck any Art Police running full weewoo lights into an interaction between an artist expressing something meaningful, and an audience experiencing it, just to yell "isn't there someone you forgot to ask?"