As it is, we are lucky in this period to have any art at all

Cadzao wrote:

"We have simply got to give up the attempt to assess ourselves for posterity; the men of the future will form their own opinions without our help. What we so self-consciously call “modem art,” after all, is nothing more nor less than the art of this time, our art; there is no other today. If we could have a different art, or a better, we would have it. As it is, we are lucky in this period to have any art at all." (Irrational Man by William Barrett) Could you please explain what the author means by the blue sentence? Thank you Cadzao

in this period = [emphasis on the fact that all art being created NOW is MODERN]

I think the rest simply a defense of what is being produced in art...and we should be thankful for it.