Monday 14 November 2016

A common lie fed to uneducated people by ill-educated people


It's Art if I say it is.

42 comments:

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    1. 80 years ago it was an interesting and challenging notion. Since then, urinals have gone back to being urinals.

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    2. A famous gallery recently debated whether or not to make an identical copy of the famous artwork - by walking into a plumbing supply shop and buying another.

      Question: If they did do this, would the bit of porcelain suddenly be worth 1000s of times more because it was bought by a gallery and not a plumber?

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  2. Art is what you can get away with. (Andy Warhol).

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    1. That applies to everything in the business world. Warhol was a businessman - as is Hirst (see below).

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  3. It's Art if Damien Hurst says it is.

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  4. I've been thinking about this.

    Duchamp's urinal was - for the most part - meant as an insult to the establishment, and lazy artists have been using it as an example of authenticity ever since.

    Art is always the first thing to go when there are financial cut-backs, on the grounds that it is of no practical use to anyone, and therefore a luxury we can do without.

    When I was at art school, it was pointed out that everything we are surrounded by, use or live in had the involvement of an artist in its design or making - evrything.

    In a way, Duchamp's insult to do with piss-pots was also an insult to artists in general. Somebody had to design it in the same way somebody has to sweep the streets.

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    1. Muchael Craig Martin hadnt done much to help.

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    2. that should be in the present tense but my finger hit d.

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    3. H.I. would be in agreement with you there. Did you mean to hit the u when you tried to hit the i?

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    4. So how did you end up with a 'd'?

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    5. I've sort of noticed that you get stroppier the fuller the moon, and tonight is the biggest moon since 1948. Will P be ok?

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    6. I greeted him with "do you still love me" when I walked in tonight and he replied "what the hell are you on about?" That was a yes. He's safe.

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  5. Art is subjective to both the artist and the viewer. Basically it is about the individual making up their own mind on what they see/understand as art.
    When I first joined a Design Office the buzz phrase was that everything had to be aesthetically correct. This led me into asking the question by whose standards ?

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    1. There are artists, and there are artist's artists. Beauty will always be in the eye of the beholder. Most people are fairly well in agreement about what pleases and what disturbs, but not in agreement about whether Art should disturb or please. I think I can tell what is bad or plain lazy art, but it is impossible to make other people's minds up for them, because they have had no classical education about it, or if they have, it's been from teachers who don't know what they are talking about.

      Remember the saying, 'Art is for everyone'? Well so are foreign languages, but if you do not learn one, you will not know what a Spaniard is saying to you. Art - being a universal language - still has to be learned if you want your opinions about it to be accepted.

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    2. You know what you like? So do I, and it is not political art.

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    3. Does that include Pre-Raphaelite art ?

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    4. If you are talking about the Scape Goat by Holman Hunt (?), then it is disturbing and pleasing at the same time. Something which only art can be, as far as I know. Unless you were talking about the Pre Raphael movement being political?

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  6. Reminds me of John Cage's "I have nothing to say and I am saying it, and that's Poetry".

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    1. My attitude toward blogging precisely, but not so poetic.

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  7. Replies
    1. Oi - Rachel! Don't take advantage of self-exposure! I just told your best mate off for using my blog to have digs. What you should have said (sweetly) is, "Oh, I wouldn't say that, John..."

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    2. Poor John. He drops his trousers and exposes his arse (again) and someone walks up and kicks it.

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    3. Oh dear.Mummy (or 'Mommy' as he calls it) and Daddy are rowing again.

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    4. I know, and - I guess - so does he.

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  8. Can we please add to the mix: When does craft become art? Where does mixed media fit in? I've always considered my needlework to be art, especially as I hand dye my threads and lace (no different from a painter mixing colours , is it...Feel free to disagree as I know you will) Recently I have been combing embroidery, stitch painting applique, and water colours, so is there a point at which a line can
    be drawn? (or would that automatically make it art?) To be honest, The semantics of it all doesn't really bother me as long as people keep on buying it!

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    1. Of course needlework can be art, otherwise all those beautiful tapestries wouldn't be so cherished.

      Where craft fits in to all of this is the constant obsession with media. A sculptor is only supposed to model in clay, carve stone or marble or cast bronze. Anything 3D can be sculpture, but everything which is 3D is not automatically sculpture (unless the carpenter who made your table calls it Art?)

      It doesn't matter to most people what the paint is laid on or even how it was applied. It's supposed to be about colour and form, not the materials.

      Look at it this way - if you make a wonderful job of sewing up Rachels torn knickers after she's got them in a right twist, it would not be art - unless her name was Tracey Emin and they were stained.

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  9. That should have read 'combining', not 'combing'. Although come to think of it that might be an interesting technique.
    Mmmmm. I'll have to have a thunk about that

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    1. Ah 'combing'! In the world of the interior decorator, 'combing' colour comes dangerously close to being labelled 'art'.

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  10. Well, if Rachel would care to send me her torn and stained knickers (no questions asked) I will do my utmost to transform them into Turner Prize material. Perhaps a butterfly crocheted from any errant hairs thereupon, will add to their allure in the eyes of the judges. Nice one Tom. What a wonderful inspiration you are

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    1. No need Lesley. I can do it myself thank you very much.

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    2. What, stain them or repair them?

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  11. I'd split the prize money with you. I'd use my own knickers, but I don't have any. I know TMI

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  12. Yazyk moy---vrag moy. Apologies

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  13. Art is just another way of making money.
    Merle...........

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