It’s been an interesting transformation, and it’s hard to say if it was blind market forces or society itself gazing too intently in the mirror that did it, made the artist more important than the art. Picasso was the first superstar, an artist who painted in several styles over seven or so decades and yet all his works are simply known as ‘Picassos.’ Nowadays Rothkos and Pollocks come up for bids and no one really gives a damn what’s on them, same stuff we’ve all seen before and that’s what makes them so easy to trade around don’t you see?
Anything a genius touches is bound to be valuable, that’s the ticket, and art schools across the land turn them out, subtle thinkers capable of assembling selected refuge with hot glue and making more of a living than you, you workaday busting your hump drone. It’s little wonder that you may not always see the point, and might even feel a slow burn when you read about the glamorous doings the art world slyly alludes to, sipping wine and having sex in the long afternoons.
Don’t care if it’s true or not, they’re turning out art could have only been created by geniuses, so inbred and self-referential that serious, accomplished, educated, and worldly people would rather buy a ski-boat than to try to untangle it. Here’s a suggestion -- shred those cascading accounts of approval and acceptance, and just for a moment forget who did it. Slide the million dollar painting in with ten others, a couple from the ‘good will,’ a couple by recent grads, a couple from serious working artists in your own community, all lined up against the wall and pick the one you’d most like to live with.
Let’s just forget the artist, humble and unassuming, working away on those long afternoons. They’re speaking to you and the world through this thing they’ve made, please consider it. That other examples of this same artist’s work have been purchased in hollywood, toured with the ‘stones,’ and received the adulation of the queen won’t make it any better. Probably will affect the price, but that’s a separate negotiation.
We’ve undergone some sort of awful inversion, got the cart before the horse, the dog was wagged, but now it’s time to flip it back over, to put the art back in art. Does this thing in a frame hold your attention? That’s a test, and there are add-ons -- is the content appealing, does it physically appear well-made, any personal responses unique to yourself and possibly the artist, such as that. This readjustment comes with looking instead of trying to see what isn't really there, believing your eyes and not the wizard of oz explaining that the pile of plywood thus arranged on the floor in front of you deserves your respect, even admiration. Seeing through establishment orthodoxy is a liberating thing to do, and a way to find a real heart, brain, and courage, there all along.
Anything a genius touches is bound to be valuable, that’s the ticket, and art schools across the land turn them out, subtle thinkers capable of assembling selected refuge with hot glue and making more of a living than you, you workaday busting your hump drone. It’s little wonder that you may not always see the point, and might even feel a slow burn when you read about the glamorous doings the art world slyly alludes to, sipping wine and having sex in the long afternoons.
Don’t care if it’s true or not, they’re turning out art could have only been created by geniuses, so inbred and self-referential that serious, accomplished, educated, and worldly people would rather buy a ski-boat than to try to untangle it. Here’s a suggestion -- shred those cascading accounts of approval and acceptance, and just for a moment forget who did it. Slide the million dollar painting in with ten others, a couple from the ‘good will,’ a couple by recent grads, a couple from serious working artists in your own community, all lined up against the wall and pick the one you’d most like to live with.
Let’s just forget the artist, humble and unassuming, working away on those long afternoons. They’re speaking to you and the world through this thing they’ve made, please consider it. That other examples of this same artist’s work have been purchased in hollywood, toured with the ‘stones,’ and received the adulation of the queen won’t make it any better. Probably will affect the price, but that’s a separate negotiation.
We’ve undergone some sort of awful inversion, got the cart before the horse, the dog was wagged, but now it’s time to flip it back over, to put the art back in art. Does this thing in a frame hold your attention? That’s a test, and there are add-ons -- is the content appealing, does it physically appear well-made, any personal responses unique to yourself and possibly the artist, such as that. This readjustment comes with looking instead of trying to see what isn't really there, believing your eyes and not the wizard of oz explaining that the pile of plywood thus arranged on the floor in front of you deserves your respect, even admiration. Seeing through establishment orthodoxy is a liberating thing to do, and a way to find a real heart, brain, and courage, there all along.
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