So on Saturday I went to see Sculptures by the Sea. And you know what? I don’t get it. Art that is. I mean I like to look at beautiful forms as much as the next person. It is just that the next person is often looking at things that are just, well, things that happen to be plonked in a gallery, or in this case – by the sea.
There were some pieces that I thought were beautiful, spectacular even and then there were some things that I thought had been left behind after a rave party. But I am open and understanding to what art is and I get the freedom of expression idea. I also get that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all of those similar metaphors but I just do NOT get the blurb that describes each piece in the accompanying guide.
Seriously. No Seriously. Call me intellectually lacking or call me a cultural ignoramus but first explain to me how I am supposed to take this description of a beautiful piece of steel seriously. Allow me to quote
“Organic vs. geometric. Consumption vs repulsion. Order vs chaos. So many dualities and so little quality shopping time”
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Yes it was magnificent and I really appreciated the aesthetic, until I read the creative blurb and just felt like hurling. Artistic, philosophical, deep and creative I am sure. But to me – it just sounds pretentious.
The setting however was ideal. Stunning really, and made me appreciate, once again, this beautiful city that I live in. And child heaven – sculptures to climb, the ocean to ogle and good old fashioned parks along the way to, well just to play in while the adults bicker over the deep, Freudian meaning of a rock exhibit. Only to be told that it is in fact a rock and not an exhibit at all.
So tell me – do artists ever create pieces that are just beautiful ? Do they sometimes create art for the sake of that beauty and the aesthetic alone ? And more importantly – have you ever been to a gallery and spent ages checking out the Exit sign in the mistaken belief that it is in fact the major exhibit?
I got the first ever comment! Woo hoo!
In France a couple of years ago my hubby & I went to an exhibition of modern art that completely baffled us. The standout exhibition was a ‘confronting’ piece that was a public toilet. No, really. A public toilet.
It had signs on it that meant something profound. It just made me want to, well, wee.
Many, many people struggled to open the doors, to, well, wee.
That’s art. It pisses you off.
In France is a very fancy shmancy way to start a comment. And I expect nothing less from you. I sincerely hope you did not wee in public
Did the boy sculpture have pants on?
No – the boy was bare. And no he was not a Jewish boy
apparently some days he has pants on, the council or some other weirdos decreed he was obscene….
pants on a sculpture is not Art
The artist removed his pants on about the third day, saying this was NOT how his sculpture was supposed to be portrayed.
I did, however, meet the woman whose elbow was used as the cast for his scrotum (straighten your arm and pull the skin down from your elbow)!!!
omg Nicky, I am sitting at my desk and pulling the skin down from my elbow. I cannot wait to teach this fact to my friends 🙂
It can be your new party trick…
I do not get art, nor why someone would pay thousands of dollars for it. I appreciate the natural beauty of photographic art. I like a nice horizon shot with a sunrise or sunset, a nice shot taken over the ocean, but arty farty? Pffft! Is all I have to say about that!!
Pfft – I think that was one of the artistic statements in the catalogue
oh art – how much pure and utter wank there is involved in convincing people that yes, this red blob on this white canvas means something significant, or that giving oneself a paint enema on a canvas and then selling it along with accompnaying video of said enema at exibit is art – it isn’t- it’s narcissim or insanity or at the very least very very scary.
I act for the pure joy of acting – I have a secret hatred of performance art ( four men walking naked across a desert, 500 meters apart with a peice of dental floss stretching between their mouths is not art to me – it is wank – and boring)
and my DOC draws simply because that is what he loves, not to prove a point – we often mock those type of blurbs, having had to write many an essay like that in our day – hence ‘subverting the dominant paradigm” (no idea what it means but = bonus point in essay)
BTW – love the new blog 🙂 🙂
I’m still wondering what ‘Blue Poles’ was about, and why Whitlam paid millions for it, enema indeed..
My parents-in-law are HUGE art collectors. So much so, that they have turned the grounds of their country weekender property into a sculpture walk. Picture a giant bambi peeking through gum trees, a massive glockenspiel atop a hill, or a hidden relief sculpture on the side of a huge boulder. Some are weird, some are beautiful, but all are fascinating – as much for the unexpectedness of finding them in a rural, outdoor setting, as for the art itself.
In an ideal world the country weekender would have the real Bambi. No?
Ooooh, love the blog. And how massive this font is because it helps my shite eyes.
I think the term is “having a wank” Seriously, I’m like you, I appreciate a lovely picture or sculpture, but bits of tubing integrated with rabbits intestines – someones taking the piss. It’s like the Emperors New clothes – no one wants to be the one to say the artist is deluded.
Hey but what would I know. And If I could con someone into buying my shit for actual dollars, perhaps I would have something different to say. Looking forward to more!!
Hey there,
Loved the blog and totally agree – enjoy photographic art and can appreciate some sculpture but most of it is too out there for me… love my grade 1 kids art – that at least has some character!
W
congrats on the blog! I was watching a program the other day when an art critic said quite seriously that anything that is inside a building that is called a gallery is automatically art. WHAT? That makes zero sense.
My husband once confused a rubbish bin for a ‘piece’ at a modernart exhibition which says something about the art…
This afternoon I will write my blog in the gallery and name it art! Thanks for that idea xxx
I love a new blog…congrats SP.
I’m still flummoxed at the $60,000 winner of the sculpture…it’s a ROCK. Yeah, yeah, the artist is 90, but IT’S A ROCK. In my opinion, there are a couple of other pieces that should have won, but apparently no one bothered to ask me…
N x
I’m with you and no one asked me either. Granted 90 is old but she is not God and in my opinion, God made the rocks, or the Big Bang did or the aliens maybe….
No, it’s not just a rock. It’s a PRIZE WINNING ROCK.
Congrats on birth of new blog.
I hope you got an epidural.
Mia x
He Who Cooks was once He Who Pots. There was a great, big, enormous show of ceramics plates in Glasgow before we migrated over here. HWC displayed several of his places at this exhibition. In the catalogue, there was a lot of Ceramic Review type rubbish being written in various biographies about inspirations, spherical doo-dahs & world piece through plate making etc. HWC’s biography said: “I make plates because I find them useful”.
I think I really like HWC
I like to occassionally dress up and play the wanky, pretenscious artist type when I go to a gallery, but really – it’s all about the free champagne. I have a couple of artist friends so I need to be careful here, but I do really find it hard to justify the amount some pieces are worth when I am looking at them. Much the same as hollywood actors pay packets – there is just too much money in certain industries and not nearly enough in others (like, twitter, come on, when is someone going to pay me to tweet all day?).
A woodworker once told me that he was told, if his wood pieces wouldn’t sell for, say $40, then to double the price to $80. Someone will see the $$ and figure that it is “art” so buy it. strange.
Thine hath blogged! I think I just made up a word.
Looking forward to this one Sharpie, in much the same way I look forward to birthdays, ironic humour and the end of church bake sales.
As someone who has exhibited a bit in my earlier years, heres the skinny…first you make the art, then when someone starts talking about the catalogue you make up the B.S to go with it. It is so much fun making up crap that has little to do with why you created the piece. I made things because I found them beautiful or I just had a theme I wanted to explore for my own interest. I have a greeting card up on my fridge that says “Art is a Fart”. So true.
I love Sculptures by the Sea. And my favourite one this year was of two whales. I looked at it for ages before I realized it wasn’t part of the exhibition. It was a permanent piece aimed at helping people identify different whales seen off Tamarama and Bondi.
*Sigh*
I guess I’m a sculpture/cultural dummie.
Congrats on the new blog,
L
LOL, Ollie loves peeing on those whales!!!
My hubby’s brother is keen on art. He bought us a book on the artworks of Gerhard Richter, an abstract artist. In it, there is a painting that is literally just a grey rectangle. That’s it. I asked Hubby’s brother what the point was, and he explained to me in detail how the story behind it is that the painter painted the same thing over and over again to see if he would end up with the same outcome each time, blah, blah, blah and all I could think was ‘Obviously, this guy has nothing better to do with his time.’
Just. Don’t. Get. It.
I think art is about if you see it, and like it, whether it’s, for example, a painting from some flash gallery or from Target, it doesn’t matter. I can’t stand snobbery towards art. Drives me insane! And I DON’T need a big, long description about each artwork either. I’ll draw my own conclusions, thank you very much.
Great post.