Dragonfly-
You've opened up a potentially year-long discussion with this first
paragraph. A question - you said as a young adult, you didn't get the
work at the Whitney. Do you now (I'm sure you still fit in the young
adult category)? Yes, Tintoretto, Bellini, Raphael, Leonard and the
like created some beautiful paintings. Of that group I like some of
those artists better than others and some of their paintings better
than others. Even at that time there were artists who felt that they
needed to break away from the style of the High Renaissance, and so
you have styles like Mannerism. It seems by the artists you mentioned
and the more contemporary examples from the Whitney you alluded to
you place a high value on illusionistic rendering as a determinant
for what is art. Is that true, or am I reading too much into your
examples? My point is that there are reasons why particular artists
choose to create work in the manner that they do. It doesn't mean
that all art and artists are equal, but it does necessitate looking
at the context in which the art is created. Certainly mail art and
Fluxus fit into the category of work that many might initially be
confused by, or simply ignore.
Well ... there was the statement that no one was responding on this
list. I think that may be changing for the moment.
Reid
Reid Wood (State of Being)
"Haven't-Garde Art"
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://havent-gardeart.blogspot.com
On May 22, 2007, at 11:16 AM, Dragonfly Dream wrote:
I was just thinking about "artistic merit". I am lucky that I grew
up across the street from a rather edgy radical museum in New York
City. The Whitney is renowned for displaying art that most folks
would shake their heads at in confusion. I myself definitely did
not understand much of what I saw there. I didn't like it, I didn't
"get" it, I saw no reason for putting it in a museum. But then
again I was a young adult trying to make sense of the world. But
huge canvases painted white with nothing else on it just didn't do
it for me. I was also lucky to have traveled to Venice, Italy and
was exposed to the greats like Titian, Tintoretto, Bellini,
Raphael, da Vinci, and the likes. So my visits to the Whitney
Museum were interesting, I racked my brain trying to figure out
what this art meant. So what is artistic merit anyway. Does it mean
I would buy it? Hang it above my couch? Do I react to it or not,
walk on by, or stop and view.
I dunno.
Recently I was on a website that featured an artist's work. I had
thought the point was for the viewers to react and dialog about the
artwork. A hard thing to do, would the artist be offended if
something bad was said? I noticed that none of us has been brave
enough to say much of anything. Did I like the art? Nope, sorry.
Does it have artistic merit? yes, I suppose so.
If anything, art does make us react in one way or another.....
<rainbow_tm.jpg>
"Paradise is exactly like where you are right now... only much,
much better."
-- Laurie Anderson
Dragonfly Dream
www.dragonflydream.com
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