Who was the "well-known art historian and specialist on the abstract painter Jackson Pollock" that gave our intrepid write (a South African antique dealer) a guided tour in the Met?
Did the following exchange really take place ? PHILISTINE: "You mean to say that if I remove my vehicles from my garage, spread a canvas on the floor and start splattering paint all over the place that I am making art?" ART EXPERT: " Well no, in that case you will only be splattering some paint on a canvas in a garage, but if you did it in 1950, before anyone else thought of it and your name was Jackson Pollock, it would be considered art today." That sounds a bit cynical -- but -- does anyone still make and sell drip paintings ? ART EXPERT: " Pollock titivates and teases with technique. "Look at what he did. Did he dribble, throw, splatter? Did he use one colour at a time? Can you picture where he stood when he threw the paint?" So we're not concerned with how the painting looks, except as it leads us to speculate on how it was done. (BTW - "titivate" was a new word for me - and it applies so well to Victorian furniture) Makes sense to me ! "the brilliance, the bravery. This man knew that the world would question him, mock him, say that hes mad, that this is not art. Yet he had to do this. It was his way of looking for the answer, and in the process he redefined the boundaries of our artistic existence. He walked to the beat of his own drummer, stayed true to his own vision. Thats artistic integrity.Nobody who has ever had the privilege of such an experience could ever again say "I hate that" about Pollock or any other artist for that matter. "Hate" has simply become superfluous." OK -- it's all a load of girly-girl nonsense -- but if we're looking for that moment when Art in America began to go astray -- I think we've found it. BTW -- I don't think that hate is any more superfluous to aesthetic experience than love -- and I hate Jackson Pollock like Custer hated Sitting Bull (or Derek hated Bouguereau). ____________________________________________________________ Custom Debt Solutions to Get Results. Start Saving Now- No Obligation! http://thirdpartyoffers.netzero.net/TGL2231/fc/BLSrjnxULxu9Gll34S2HdfTgU8br4D 7CeDri5gm3GSMWBgkdgCubWZO1tYO/
