I am a pessimist. And I generally look for pessimist art.
We all have something dark in the midst of us. Obviously, it is not expressed in everyday life as much as are our good sides (which is normal, our dark sides lead to asocial behavior, our good sides to social behavior - and social behavior is preferred in society, thank the Lord).
I like when artists plunge into human darkness. I like to believe that our darkness, when provoked, will always overrule our goodness. By experience I can say that if there is a fan on your ceiling and if there is someone holding a bag of sh*t in your room, they will throw it onto the fan if they can get the pleasure to see you suffocate in the pestilence for the rest of your life.
People at school don't ask about your marks to be told they are better than theirs. People don't tell you you look beautiful when you do. People don't mock your appearance when they don't feel threatened by it.
I love to believe people, deep down, deep past their wall of smiles, of kind gestures and politically correct statements, are as dark as a septic hole. And so, chuck art that destroys my hopes, that undresses the human soul to show its ugliness, at me and look at me wallowing in it and enjoying it so much. I must have been a pig in a previous life, I swear. Rolling around in mud is my favorite past-time.