Wednesday 8 October 2008

"Individuals" please take note

...that when you're trying to do something "different", "new" or "revolutionary" it's important to remember that it hasn't been done before for a bloody good reason.

Sometimes its because the opportunity has never been there until now. See the moon landings, cold fusion experiments or the skiffle revolution in the UK for good examples.

But far more often these days people will simply make an attempt at something that hasn't been done before because they feel they need to. And while this is an important part of our progress as humans to be constantly finding out "what happens when I do this", it is also important to make sure that you have a reason for doing other than "I don't want to do what someone's done before".

For an example of this latter form, please see the god awful scultpure of the parapalegic woman that someone paid for, and someone spent their time making. I rather feel that the reason was more in the "because I don't want it to be like..." rather than "because I want it to be...". The statue says nothing about anything, and no amount of wine sipping, verbose, gibbering intellectuals will be able to shoehorn in one iota of meaning.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

wine sipping, verbose, gibbering intellectuals would not be able to shoehorn in one iota of meaning but the artist gave it a meaning by producing it. Art has a personal meaning for people, as I am sure the sculpture does. It makes people questions their preconceptions both about beauty and disability. It is not "revolutionary" or "new", art has been trying to challenge and provoke for years. So really the people who you mock for being "individuals" are not trying to do something revolutionary and are doing it for a bloody good reason of their own.

bigdave84 said...

I'm afraid i have to agree with Trotmaster on this one.

I find art which is shocking for the sake of shocking a little pointless. For years I have shown my utter disgust at Damien Hurst's so called art, something I feel has no meaning what so ever, and i think he realises this too,

(qoute from the news story of the time when a probe was sent into space, the lead singer from Blur Damien Albern I think it was designed the spots on the back of the probe as art to calibrate cameras and to give an idea to Extra terrestrials of earth "art" Damien Hurst said 'I would have probably shoved half a cow on there')

This goes double for the White paintings which swept the nation for many years. So many talented artists go to the grave without a dot of merit, but with some truly amazing work emerging once they are cold...it makes me sick.

And I cannot abide stupid people.

trotmaster said...

...and I guess the fact that we are discussing it now makes it art in the sense you are talking about Anon.

I just wonder how many more inspiring pieces were passed up on because they wouldn't get the commissioner on local news.