Real Actual Art

[Dusk]

I went to the art gallery on the weekend and saw the Picasso To Warhol exhibition.
Firstly, I'm not a huge fan of modern art. I don't get excited about it at all.
I recognise its value to art and society in general. I understand the concepts and the questions it asks and the boundaries it pushes, but it doesn't amaze me or leave me in awe.

In fact, walking out of the exhibition, I felt bemused and a little annoyed. A victory for the modern artist, yes, but I was upset that these people will forever be remembered by the civilised world for basically pointing out how fixed, flawed and mundane our perspective is. Not only that, but their grandchildren, copyright holders and wealthy benefactors are raking in truckloads of money in merchandise etc.
Some of the pieces I looked at were such enormous displays of arrogance and banality, that I just wanted to laugh, go home and smear my own poopcakes on a canvas.. you know.. for the irony. When did the priority shift from expression and talent to just rickin'-frackin' with the frame? And will it ever really shift back, or are we too self-aware now?
Sigh.
Anyhoo, this wasn't meant to be a dissertation on the value of modern art and its enduring effects.

It's been so long since I studied Warhol and that whole scene.. Perhaps when I was younger I found that art-punk-nihilism alluring or valuable. Not so at this point in my life.
What I did find interesting were some of Picasso's earliest works.. and, surprisingly, some of Pollock's works.
I mean, when you're looking at something as imposing as this, you just think..

How did he decide it was finished? I don't mean that in an entirely facetious way, either.
"One more splash over here... yes. Done. It is complete."
That man must have a fascinating head.

Some of the sculptures were really quite incredible, too.
Sadly, I have to wait another few months for the exhibition to move on and something else to pop up.
All you lucky Europeans with your easy access to incredible art.. It's such a massive undertaking, trucking all of that guff over to this part of the world.
I need to start setting some financial goals, so I can furtively infiltrate your artsy places.
So yes. Art.

[Low-Tech]

I've never understood the whole drive behind some of the pop artists. Doing something different is one thing, doing something different that's still appealing is another, but insisting that what we understand to be classical art is fraudulent, and that only "True Art" (which is always incomprehensible, subversive and abstract) counts, well, I never got it. But what I really despise is the barely-disguised pretentiousness, as if it should be self evident that anything that LOOKS like something just for the sake of LOOKING like it and displaying artistic talent is a sell out to "The Man" (tm) and you don't want to sell out to THE MAN (tm) do you?! DO YOU?!!!!

Then there's that whole notion that some of them believe that if they can just "shock" your senses, they'll make you more open-minded and socially-progressive as a result. Again, there's that whole pretentiousness bubbling just below the surface, "You poor little troglodyte, with your underdeveloped brain! How blind you are to the injustice of the world! It's only by the graces of my deep and thought-provoking mind that I can rescue you from your torpor and show you how you SHOULD be feeling!" News flash, no paining or sculpture ever won a war or liberated an oppressed people, or made a lousy third-world tinpot dictator realize his folly and step down. That kind of stuff has to be done with GUNS, not finger paint. Art improves the world, but it does NOT make people hold hands and sing merely by glancing at it.

Okay, rant over. Carry on

[EsBe]

That kind of stuff has to be done with GUNS, not finger paint.

I take it you never heard of the plot to go back in time and kill Fidel Castro as a youth with poisoned finger paint?

[Low-Tech]

Well, if I disclosed any knowledge of that....... well, then I'd have to kill ya!

But I'd do it in an artful way

[EvilJekyll]

I'm guessing you never heard of the CIA using modern art to as part of the Cold War?

Anyway, I used to kind of make fun of Jackson Pollock for not producing paintings that captured my interest due to just being spattered paint. I did appreciate his style and his method of painting. That all changed upon seeing one of the paintings in person. They're just so immense and almost intimidating, I must've stared at the painting for a good 20 minutes, just getting lost in the colours and patterns. If you stare at it long enough you can almost see a story or get impressions of moods or ideas from different parts of the painting.

[Nyperold]

I can appreciate some modern art. But art, in my view, should not make me think I'm at Sam's Club.