One job of the artist is to engage the viewer, to wake up the observer, to get the witness to pay attention and think. If one trusts the artist, meets the artist on her own turf and accepts the sincerity of the work, it’s alchemy. If Picasso hangs a set of bicycle handlebars on a wall and calls it art, I think a smart person should say, What’s going on here? and engage with the work. In the Rothko chapel are fourteen monumental canvases painted in variations of… black. Blueblack, Purpleblack, Blackblack. I don’t think I ever really paid attention to blackness till I saw them. I’ve spent more than a few hours there, embraced, cocooned, spellbound in darkness.
A finger pointing at the moon is not the moon, but it IS a finger pointing at the moon.
Sometimes the best we can do is find a wonder and point at it shouting LOOK! LOOK!
Moral of the story…..even in expressing contempt, you are nonetheless making an expression. And in the art world, expression is already 9/10ths of the law.
Sadly this is not an exaggeration. Here is what passes for an Art Museum in Paris, the Pompideau Centre. It was designed this way, not repurposed from being an oil refinery. https://www.businessdestinations.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/The-Georges-Pompidou-Centre.jpg
Ida No over 5 years ago
If you died penniless, then you lost.
jimmjonzz Premium Member over 5 years ago
One job of the artist is to engage the viewer, to wake up the observer, to get the witness to pay attention and think. If one trusts the artist, meets the artist on her own turf and accepts the sincerity of the work, it’s alchemy. If Picasso hangs a set of bicycle handlebars on a wall and calls it art, I think a smart person should say, What’s going on here? and engage with the work. In the Rothko chapel are fourteen monumental canvases painted in variations of… black. Blueblack, Purpleblack, Blackblack. I don’t think I ever really paid attention to blackness till I saw them. I’ve spent more than a few hours there, embraced, cocooned, spellbound in darkness.
A finger pointing at the moon is not the moon, but it IS a finger pointing at the moon.
Sometimes the best we can do is find a wonder and point at it shouting LOOK! LOOK!
Jelliqal over 5 years ago
Saw that coming
garcalej over 5 years ago
Moral of the story…..even in expressing contempt, you are nonetheless making an expression. And in the art world, expression is already 9/10ths of the law.
sperry532 over 5 years ago
Art is anything you can get away with – Marshall Mcluhan 1968
praesodynium over 5 years ago
I love what Bolling did with this in his “Larry Dodson” sequence. But this is neat too.https://www.gocomics.com/tomthedancingbug/2018/07/12
Dragoncat over 5 years ago
As long as they’re not charging him for the air-conditioning, he’s a complete success.
jmcenanly over 5 years ago
Sadly this is not an exaggeration. Here is what passes for an Art Museum in Paris, the Pompideau Centre. It was designed this way, not repurposed from being an oil refinery. https://www.businessdestinations.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/The-Georges-Pompidou-Centre.jpg