Art

Buckley

Buckley

Well-Known Member
Who's into art here? Do you think you need to educate yourself to appreciate it?

I went to the Tate Modern to see Damien Hirst's show yesterday and couldn't really get over-excited about most of it. Particularly the fact that I had to read about the pieces to know what they were trying to say. Doesn't that defeat the object?

I really enjoyed seeing some Henri Rosseau paintings at MoMA in New York, so perhaps I just need obvious art, bold coloured exotic scenes?

Maybe I'm an art-thicko:lol:

Spotlight art-buffs - talk to me!
 
I kind of see it like fishing. I never catch anything, I just enjoy standing there in silent contemplation.
 
I go to a lot of exhibits (in fact, going to the opening of one by Spanish artist Maggie Cardelus tonight at the Moscow Museum of Modern Art)

Contemporary art is a broad and varied thing - paintings, sculptures, photography, installations, video, hybrids of these various forms.

There are people out there that will say you should like some given artist, but that's b.s. You enjoy seeing that which grabs you, whether you immediately get the meaning of it or not.

That said, it's good to broaden your horizons - to know what, for example, Damien Hirst and his work are about so that you can at least appreciate his place in the art world and halfway intelligently say why you're not impressed :lol:

I tend to like photography, installations, and figurative art (painting, sculpture) that represents something I can identify. I don't mind if there's a message, or if it's warped, but I do like to be able to have some idea where the author's train of thought was heading.
 
I find the art world very puzzling to be honest.

I've tried on several occasions to make an effort and get into it, by attending shows, galleries etc. - usually thinking "it must be me, I need to take some time to understand it".

But although I've seen some installations (Anish Kapoor i do like) and figurative art that I've loved, i usually find the themes /inspirations/ explanations behind most stuff to be overly contrived/pretentious.

It's a bit like religion, in a way. To "Get it" you've got to ignore all your judgement and common sense and almost take someone else's word that "This is fantastic" or "This meaning behind this is such and such"

When usually I find myself thinking "i don't see it - it just looks really ****....." :lol:
 
Padster said:
I also like David Shepherd's work (10% of all proceeds go to the World Wildlife Fund), and have done since I worked in a gallery years ago! http://www.davidshepherd.com/?gclid=CPH46ojP_68CFUdlfAodakWOGA
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Have an original of his. Nice guy too.

Buckley said:
Particularly the fact that I had to read about the pieces to know what they were trying to say. Doesn't that defeat the object?
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A lot of it is a total pile of twaddle .. and I certainly have better things to do than try to learn about what its creators are trying to convey by it, whatever the "critics" and "experts" may say :lol:.
 
Art is just subjective isnt it? I like some - I dont get others and I just plain hate quite a few styles...

For me - I think a lot of people dont bother to get into Art as they see it as a class thing.... (lets not get into a massive discussion on the class division ****..:D:D:D)

I have bought a few bits of art at various exhibitions of Degree shows we have sponsored through work - its not expensive art - couple of hundred quid at most but I loved it and bought it because I thought it was the nuts - but I did get someone who came up to me at one exhibition and said - "so what does this piece say to you - what's your interpretation, what's this person conveying through their art?" When I looked at them and laughed and said -"oh I just love the colours it makes me smile and it matches the colours on my cushions" I got such a derisory look from that person it was just comical...

Phil hates getting dragged round "modern" exhibitions - I took him to the Turner Exhibition a few months back at the Baltic - he was so not moved, but to be fair neither was I ...

but I do love spending whole days just wandering round galleries/museums etc looking at "Art" I particularly love sculpture and photographic art..
 
photographs, paintings, sculpture, etc - yeah, okay

someone placing a flashing lightbulb over a chair/fork/the corpse of a dog... hmm

How do people make money out of this? :lol:

Art is just one letter away from fart.
 
Went ot a Pipolotti Rist exhibition one Sunday in London before xmas, thought it was fantastic, my appreciation was possibly aided by a 7am finish MOS session:oops:

Like many posters, I don't seem to 'get it', whatever it is we are meant to 'get'. But enjoy the emotions art can evoke, something as simple as Lowry's matchstick paintings can really 'get' me.

The sheep in formaldehyde type stuff is way over my head.
 
The thing about contemporary art is, the more you're exposed to it, the more you start to "get it".

There will still be plenty of exhibits where you're thinking "this guy has a top notch PR team and is craftily making a living by assembling crap he found in a garbage dump."

But every once in a while you'll find something that is either aesthetically pleasing or gets you thinking, both pleasant reactions.

Here's an example: there was a big retrospective about Serbian performance artists Marina Abramovic at a gallery out here. She's probably tops in the game at performance art, and while I found the exhibit extremely interesting (especially the naked girls she had reproducing some of her more famous performance installations :twisted:), I just don't "get" performance art. So, by going I learned something about Abramovic and performance art... still not a fan, but I better understand its place in the pantheon of contemporary culture.

What really opened my eyes more than anything over the past few years is the Venice Biennale. I've been twice now and have seen so many interesting works of all types from all over the world. Highly recommended if you're looking for a fascinating weekend city break in summer 2013!
 
Happened to watch Exit through the Gift Shop at the weekend. Was a bit surprised at how the film turned out. The film-maker guy turned artist is a complete tube. I couldn't work out if it was somehow staged as a joke/statement on just how ridiculous the world of art actually is. Thousands of people fawning over his 'creations' in LA - but it actually seems legit, and he is just a total tube :lol:
 
The thing is, if you're a luvvy artist and you arrange a lightbulb, a flowerpot and a toilet in a certain way, it's 'art' and you can command money for it.

The rest of us could do the same and get nowt. It's a con. ;)
 
Modern/performance art some of it is crap. The classics i appreciate, but art is like music as other have said. You a piece and are moved while someone else will not get it. If i have to try to figure out what it is or read about it to see what the artist means I just move along.
 
Its subjective.

Went to the Louvre and remember being very underwhelmed by the Mona Lisa, but then you come across some paintings that are the size of a house which are really quite mind blowing.

I liked that sunflower seed thing they had at the tate recently, just because of the amount of work that went into it

also that "crack" they had in the turbine hall was quite interesting
 
Johnny Vodka said:
photographs, paintings, sculpture, etc - yeah, okay

someone placing a flashing lightbulb over a chair/fork/the corpse of a dog... hmm

How do people make money out of this? :lol:

Art is just one letter away from fart.
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I suppose I better take back the 'installation' I bought you for your birthday of a 'Dead dog with a fork up its ar$e, a light bulb in its mouth, sat in a chair'

I think I still have the receipt
 
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