Used to be only for decorative purpose, but if old enough, it's great art because if something works, even an iconoclast inkblot, it becomes more beautiful.
Because cryptic statements are quite visual poetry, classic art may be viewed as an emblem of poetic obscurity. If you don't understand, it's a sordid artwork idea.
If art history offers any lesson, artists may find they face steep odds if they hope to make famous artworks in a much-dangerous world like the internet. Understanding art is always a matryoshka doll type of game.
You cannot forget history but at the same time you have to forget it, or else you can't create. I look backwards and forwards at the same time.
Stephan Balkenhol