Thursday, February 09, 2012

Modern Art

I consider myself relatively unsophisticated–lot of stuff just blows right past me, some of which is modern art. Guy sticks a vacuum cleaner under a plexiglas case, I get it that the idea of it, and the presentation is, um, art, sorta, but c'mon, if somebody is willing to pony up a couple hundred grand for that? 


Somebody's got a screw loose.


I mean, sure, Picasso painted stuff like this:



But Picasso could also paint like this:


So it wasn't as if he was just slapping oils on a canvas every which way because he didn't know any better.

This next one is also beyond me, but maybe I might could see something in it. Some kind of dynamic symbolism embodying the fractured forces of nature at the beginning of creation ...

Uh huh ...


But this?


A black square. Too bad we can't get a better view of the museum-goers' faces.

Um ... ? What ... ?





7 comments:

Ian Sadler said...

Hmmm, the infamous black cat at night, I haven't seen work of that quality since kindergarten!

Steve Perry said...

"Cow Eating Grass."

Only, the cow ate all the grass and left and then it got dark ...

Ed said...

It's awkward when they let the art goers in early before all the art is hung up.

Jim said...

The maintenance painting crew puts one over on the museum staff...

Mike Byers said...

Ok, maybe it's different shades of black that don't show in the photo. Real subtle, right? Or maybe it's the P.T. Barnum effect that seems to strike art (particularly public art) now and then. My guess is the last, with a dose of The Emperor's New Clothes thrown in for good effect. It's amazingly easy to sell something meaningless to a group of people who are so sophisticated that they won't admit to knowing nothing at all about art. Heh. Might have done this myself once or twice.

Unknown said...

Do you know a pseudo contemporary norwegian artist called Morten Viskum? He put dead rats in a jar and became freaking famous... And he paited something with his dead grandfather's hand... seriously I can't conceive any of his pieces as "art" but many people are crazy about his work... I am confused... I would like ti know your oppinion. It seems you know way much more of art than me.

Steve Perry said...

Art is sometimes in the eye of the beholder. And sometimes the artist is praised for thinking up a project as much as the execution. Thought is good, but I am not impressed by somebody who can't render a thought as one who can. If you can draw a picture that looks like a photograph, that's admirable. If you put a dead rat in a jar and call it art? Doesn't work for me.

It's an old joke: I may not know art, but I know what i like. (Or don't like ...)