The netpaper about Elftowners, by Elftowners, for Elftowners.
Modern Art
By [shotokan_gal]
I like art, I like it a lot. Realism or surrealism, portrait or landscape, still life or purely from the imagination... Not forgetting of course the ever present fantasy art of our fine community, seen in abundance in both Elftown and Elfwood. Hence as such, I enjoy browsing galleries, both online and in real life. Wandering the rooms, clicking the mouse, seeing what fantastic and varied creations the people of today, and the past, were able to create.
And then... then ladies and gents, alongside these masterpieces of paintings, perfections of sculpture, treasures of art... I see this:
http://www.thecityreview.com/s03cimpb.jpg
Composition in blue, white and yellow the caption describes it. Really? My how original. But wait, there's more...
This "grid" picture has an estimate of $6,000,000 to $8,000,000. It sold for $8,071,500 to an anonymous buyer.
There's clearly no accounting for taste. I'm fairly sure Mr. A. Buyer could whip up something similar in his front room with a slide rule and some paint for under a tenner, but some obviously have money to burn.
How about another example, on display at the Tate Modern, London (
http://www.tate.org.uk/):
A Happy Land. Expecting a landscape? Think again...
http://www.tate.org.uk/collection/T/T07/T07163_9.jpg
I don't really see much 'land-ish' about that. At least the above example was more honest about what we would see! Unfortunately no price quoted on this piece, but the fact that it's in one of the most famous galleries in the country is saying something for it.
Incidentally, this being the same gallery which displays the entries to the Turner Prize every year. The winner of which receives £25,000 for apparently promoting
public discussion of new developments in contemporary British art. Which in the past has been done with: A messy bedroom, a light bulb switching on and off in an empty room, and a urinal placed in an art gallery. Easy money if you can convince some poor sod it's art I suppose.
And if you or me did the same? If I submitted any of the above to my Elfwood gallery claiming it showed the very essence of fantasy itself, "you just tilt your head a little to the side and it looks like a dragon attacking a medieval castle, honest!", and I'd get laughed out of the place. Certainly not paid extortionate sums for my efforts (which, lets face it, wouldn't exactly be strenuous).
Now, this argument is all looking a bit one sided, so I'd like to put forward the artists' point of views. That, in pictures which would look like scribbles of a toddler to some, it's not about the final piece but about the process, thought, feeling and emotion that went into creating it. In such obscure cases as the urinal mentioned above, it's about provoking thought, putting ordinary things in extraordinary places. Hence making a big political / chauvinist / feminist / revolutionary (delete as applicable) statement.
Well, says I, good for you. Everyone needs a hobby to take them away from the daily grind, the nine to five. And if your way to express yourself is to splodge paint about on a wall, let your anger out through the art, then fantastic. Keeps you off the streets at least. If you want to make some statement about rights and issues important to you, go ahead, it's a free country after all.
But, BUT (and do note, this is a particularly big but)
don't expect to be paid thousands of pounds for your efforts. Which, quite frankly, probably weren't much 'effort' at all in the first place. Not by the real world's standards anyway. Do you see the work of pre-school children being bought for lavish sums of money and displayed in top galleries? No, they're displayed on your refrigerator at home. Which is where the rest of your random splatterings belong. It means a lot to you, that's great, so you and your family can see it every day when going for a pint of milk if you so wish. But in the case of your kids artwork I doubt you expect anybody
outside the home and family to actually perceive it as 'good'. Family and close friends excluded here, I'm sure you love it, which I'm by no means slandering. Of course a proud parent is going to admire their child's first drawings. But be honest, is the critiquing public? Would you honestly expect
"my day at the zoo" featuring a pink elephant and giant kid (either that, or it's one small elephant) to fetch thousands from some art enthusiast? No of course not. So, why should your work of similar calibre be any different then? Really?
Of course it's the critics who are to blame for all this. They think it's good, it automatically must be. So everyone else follows suit. I mean, you wouldn't want to look stupid would you?
A minor diversion, I wonder if you know the fairy tale, The Emperors New Clothes. Famous children's story, a really spoiled stuck-up emperor wants the finest garments made for him. A tailor comes along saying he has this wonderful material, but it can only be seen by the most wise, thoughtful, generous (etc) people. Of course no such cloth exists, but the Emperor doesn't want to seem stupid, and nor do his people. So when he goes out wearing not a shred of clothing, everyone lavishes praise on the 'invisible' clothes, not wanting to seem a fool. That is, until a child points out the obvious fact, that there is no magical outfit, and he is in fact wearing nothing.
See the similarities to our position here? That's my opinion why all these critics have jumped on the modern art bandwagon. One started one day, thinking all these colours and shapes were top notch, and so the others followed his lead. Not wanting to be behind the times, the odd one out, the one who's not wise enough to see the 'magical clothes' (or in this case, the 'obvious' talent that lies behind these works). Of course not, not in today's metropolitan cosmopolitan fast-living world.
So there you have it, my take on modern art. Save it for your refrigerators chaps, and let some real budding artists who we see on Elfwood and Elftown get the recognition they deserve.
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