On the other hand...(no pun intended).... The contemporary art now being shown at the big and glossy art fairs is, taken as a whole, is well crafted, sometimes exquisitely so. Such art often results from specialized assistants, machines, and engineering expertise and is most evident in conceptual sculpture and painting. In fact, the world of contemporary painting is now going through a phase of very tricky craftsmanship with almost magical technical results. There's a very high degree of theatricality and self-consciousness in this work. Paint splatters and drips, for instance, (now very popular in bright colors), seem to be pre-planned for best effect, probably practiced like a ballet step over and over before being 'performed' on the canvas. In the old days of abstract expressionism, splatters and drips were popular, of course, but then it was because they were the natural result of furious 'action ' painting, not pre-planned. It's hard to decide what's worse, the loss of basic skills in art-making or the exaggerated display of superhuman (read machined) polish and refinement. If we look to art history for help, it's plenty clear that the low points occurred when technical polish reached an acme whereas the times of low skill always signaled a forthcoming big change in worldview.
wc ----- Original Message ---- From: joseph berg <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Thu, December 13, 2012 3:27:56 AM Subject: Re: is list dead? On Fri, Dec 7, 2012 at 12:48 AM, joseph berg <[email protected]> wrote: > On Wed, Jul 25, 2012 at 10:00 PM, joseph berg <[email protected]> wrote: > >> On Tue, Jul 24, 2012 at 8:30 AM, William Conger <[email protected]>wrote: >> >>> ...The visual arts are alone among the arts in degrading skills and >>> history of the >>> >>> field to the vanishing point. All other arts still rely on rigorous >>> skills, >>> historical forms, consensual interpretation, and audience appeal. >>> >>> No one knows why visual art has abandoned its standards but anyone >>> looking at >>> today's visual art knows that no standards is the name of the game. it >>> has a >>> huge number of advocates. Skills are out. Some art schools say they >>> teach only >>> to "to the wrist" and focus instead on ideas and theory... >> >> >> >> - The mind resorts to reason for want of training. >> >> Henry Adams >> > > To paraphrase Whitehead: > > - An artform** is in its finest flower* before it begins to analyze > itself. > > --------------------------------------- > > *A *culture is in its finest flower* before it begins to analyze itself. > - *Analysis kills spontaneity*. The grain once ground into flour springs and germinates no more. Henri Frederic Amiel
