Art!!.......I'm not having it mate!
Discussion
I'm far from what you might call an art lover, I have a couple of pieces at home and appreciate an old master, today I ventured for the first time to the Tate modern.
Well, talk about the Emporers new clothes.
The place was packed with people studying this and fawning over that.
It really was full of what I'd call absolute tosh. I'm talking about the sort of paintings a seven year old would do at school, half filled bottles of coke, padded arm protectors, even things like the famous Andy Warhol Marilyn collage left me thinking I was being taken for a mug.
Was I wrong and all the others right?
Perhaps I'm a heathen and need to stop appreciating a nice photo of the Manhattan skyline.
Well, talk about the Emporers new clothes.
The place was packed with people studying this and fawning over that.
It really was full of what I'd call absolute tosh. I'm talking about the sort of paintings a seven year old would do at school, half filled bottles of coke, padded arm protectors, even things like the famous Andy Warhol Marilyn collage left me thinking I was being taken for a mug.
Was I wrong and all the others right?
Perhaps I'm a heathen and need to stop appreciating a nice photo of the Manhattan skyline.
Edited by Thankyou4calling on Saturday 26th March 20:19
I love the kind of art that you hate. If I want to see a tree I don't need a picture of one on the wall - I can look out of the window! What I can't see by looking out of the window is someone else's twisted ideas. I love art that's concepts which perplex and make me wonder WTF? I love to hear how angry and indignant people get in the face of modern art. They might think it's s
t but they can't stop talking about it!
It's all subjective, of course.
t but they can't stop talking about it!It's all subjective, of course.
nellyleelephant said:
It's affected you enough to post about it, so I would say that it has worked!
(Don't take that as a dig!)
In Chez T, I have art that reminds me of my childhood, others that make me smile, laugh and reflect on life.(Don't take that as a dig!)
Now.. I can go to some galleries and think Meh.
Other times - I can go and really appreciate the work.
It isn't a science.
It is just... how does it make you feel?
I dropped art at A level.
I was quite good when I put my mind to it, but at the start of one term we were asked to produce a piece based on a 'feeling'. I failed at it miserably, as we were specifically asked not to draw an object.
I'm a realist, art should represent something and not just look like an unfinished piece or like the OP says; like something produced by a child.
It's also an observation / generalisation that the people who appreciate this sort of rubbish are generally left-leaning hippies too - so perhaps they're all just a little bit mental?
Can of worms?!
I was quite good when I put my mind to it, but at the start of one term we were asked to produce a piece based on a 'feeling'. I failed at it miserably, as we were specifically asked not to draw an object.
I'm a realist, art should represent something and not just look like an unfinished piece or like the OP says; like something produced by a child.
It's also an observation / generalisation that the people who appreciate this sort of rubbish are generally left-leaning hippies too - so perhaps they're all just a little bit mental?
Can of worms?!
Tate is the worst for this rubbish try somewhere different try John Moores competition in July if your near Liverpool yes some stuff will be lines drawn on a canvas? But other stuff is very good. One year there was a burnt crushed Coke can with outlines of masked men drawn on it tosh I hear you say but the can was found near a burnt out shop the day after those London raids (it had a better background story than that) but this is what it's all about.
OP you are not alone.
I like a wide range of art ( and associated architecture influences ) - I even attend life drawing classes and a weekly art class which encourages a variety of techniques, and I am particularly interested in Urban Sketching. The F/Book Urban Sketching pages have a wide variety of talent that I often look at and much impresses.
I have family in Paris, so inevitably go to the galleries when visiting including the Musee D'Orsey and the Orangerie to check out Toulouse Lautrec ( my favourite ), Renoir, Braque, Degas, Van Gogh and Monet of course. That is always time well spent.
Am now semi-retired so free time last year allowed me to go for the first time to the Picasso Museum in Malaga, and apart from a short movie clip showing a bird painted with few brush strokes, the rest of the display of paintings and pottery left me perplexed. I really could not see the point. Dare I say it - 'He's avin a laff aint he ?'
Thinking its just me, I returned again last month and came away thinking I'd just wasted a couple of hours and a few euros as I felt exactly the same.My mind was made up.
OP - Do what I do. Form your own opinions, stick to your principles and enjoy what you alone appreciate.
I like a wide range of art ( and associated architecture influences ) - I even attend life drawing classes and a weekly art class which encourages a variety of techniques, and I am particularly interested in Urban Sketching. The F/Book Urban Sketching pages have a wide variety of talent that I often look at and much impresses.
I have family in Paris, so inevitably go to the galleries when visiting including the Musee D'Orsey and the Orangerie to check out Toulouse Lautrec ( my favourite ), Renoir, Braque, Degas, Van Gogh and Monet of course. That is always time well spent.
Am now semi-retired so free time last year allowed me to go for the first time to the Picasso Museum in Malaga, and apart from a short movie clip showing a bird painted with few brush strokes, the rest of the display of paintings and pottery left me perplexed. I really could not see the point. Dare I say it - 'He's avin a laff aint he ?'
Thinking its just me, I returned again last month and came away thinking I'd just wasted a couple of hours and a few euros as I felt exactly the same.My mind was made up.
OP - Do what I do. Form your own opinions, stick to your principles and enjoy what you alone appreciate.
MitchT said:
I love the kind of art that you hate. If I want to see a tree I don't need a picture of one on the wall - I can look out of the window! What I can't see by looking out of the window is someone else's twisted ideas. I love art that's concepts which perplex and make me wonder WTF? I love to hear how angry and indignant people get in the face of modern art. They might think it's st but they can't stop talking about it!
It's all subjective, of course.
I don't need to leave the house or even look out of the window to see an unmade bed either. t but they can't stop talking about it!It's all subjective, of course.
supertouring said:
I found some pieces made me go "WOW" and some go "WTF?".
It's just like music or other things that are subjective.
I think it is a shame you did not see one thing that had an impact on you.
I arrived home and looked up the prices these pieces sell for, I assumed ( in my ignorance) that a Picasso would fetch £3 or £4 million bearing in mind he did a fair few and they don't appear to the untrained eye to be overly complex.It's just like music or other things that are subjective.
I think it is a shame you did not see one thing that had an impact on you.
Jesus!!! They are going for £50 million upwards!
The only one I really liked was a Roy Lichtenstein which was what I'd call a proper picture ( bit cartooney)
Most of the rest, honestly, my neice aged 12 could've done.
Some do take it a bit too seriously.
For example, re that 'pile of bricks', my first visit to the Tate Modern was in 1981 and they had not been on display for long and vandalised by a disgruntled punter throwing paint over them.
They were being dismantled for cleaning and a couple of bods were studiously labelling each one as it was removed do that they could all be replaced in the correct position...
For example, re that 'pile of bricks', my first visit to the Tate Modern was in 1981 and they had not been on display for long and vandalised by a disgruntled punter throwing paint over them.
They were being dismantled for cleaning and a couple of bods were studiously labelling each one as it was removed do that they could all be replaced in the correct position...
I went to the Tate Modern about 2 years ago and came out thinking exactly the same as the OP.
I just thought it was full of piles of junk, and that the Tate is actually trolling the public in some form of social experiment.
My 'favourite piece' was a pile of twisted metal in a heap on the floor next to the description which said "This piece expresses how the artist felt when his wife left him"
My other favourite was a white square painted on a white wall. You couldn't see anything, but the sign next to it said it was there...
I like a lot of art, love photography, like paintings, admire sculpture... But honestly the Tate is just full of total and utter crap that requires precisely zero artistic skill to create.
I just thought it was full of piles of junk, and that the Tate is actually trolling the public in some form of social experiment.
My 'favourite piece' was a pile of twisted metal in a heap on the floor next to the description which said "This piece expresses how the artist felt when his wife left him"
My other favourite was a white square painted on a white wall. You couldn't see anything, but the sign next to it said it was there...
I like a lot of art, love photography, like paintings, admire sculpture... But honestly the Tate is just full of total and utter crap that requires precisely zero artistic skill to create.
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