Skull Session: Pretentiousness, Criticism & Art

I've been thinking a lot recently about Art and Pretentiousness. Why is art so often coupled with the term? I've begun to have a 'chicken or the egg' type debate in my head over the matter. Does pretentiousness begin with the birth of the idea or the criticism of the idea? To say it starts with the birth of the idea is to say that when the idea to create a work of art was conceived, it was conceived in self importance: The creator thought their idea was so brilliant, that it must be made tangible and seen, as it will inform the uninformed, which only they could do. To say its birthed once the creation is criticized is to say that the criticizer analyzed the work of art, and saw something that others hadn't seen: The art is hoisting itself on an unworthy pedestal, and it must be knocked down! So they crafted a commentary decrying the art, explaining that it is presenting itself as more than it really is. Its claiming to be of more value than it is. Can you see how this begins to become so abstract, that it becomes pretentious in and of itself? My own introspection on the matter makes such little sense that I begin to wonder if pretentiousness is a paradox. I then realize I don't know what a paradox is.

Pretentiousness: the quality of trying to make yourself appear or sound more important or intelligent than you are.

It seems to be associated with abstraction, which is the quality of dealing with ideas rather than events.  How can one make oneself appear more important without there being some well-known baseline quantification of their importance? Unless that level of importance is a projection from the criticizer, who believes that the artist sees them themselves as more important than they actually are, when in fact that assumed level of importance is actually the criticizers own assessment of the artists importance.

A projection! In conclusion, i'm beginning to believe that (most) pretentiousness is birthed in criticism.

I do believe that a lot of art is inherently pretentious, but i don't believe it is possible for an artist to intend pretentiousness, for the level of self-awareness required to perceive ones own pretentiousness would invalidate the pretentiousness of the art. The artists that create pretentious art are products of criticism. And i don't mean that they're critics-turned-artists, but that they pursued their art with the intention of receiving praise. They were attracted to the good criticism, the criticism that put the art on the pedestal! I could certainly be wrong; maybe my analysis itself is pretentious.

Abstract analysis seems to be a redundant synonym for pretentiousness.

I should really look up the definition of paradox.