Modern art- don't you just love it?

joanlawson

Hi

I have just been to see the British Art Show, which is on at the Nottingham Contemporary gallery. It is widely recognised as one of the most ambitious and influential exhibitions of British art, and 39 artists have been chosen on the grounds of their significant contribution to British art in the last five years.

Don't get me wrong, I am very open-minded about modern art, and I find a lot of it very interesting and exciting, but some of the exhibits I saw today left me very puzzled as to their artistic merit.

For example, Roger Hiorns has made a slit in the wall, into which he has injected the brain matter of cows. I mean why :?: :roll: He also displays a metal bench, and occasionally a flame flares up at one end, tended by a naked young man. :shock: We are told that he uses brains, fire, crystals, sperm, and drugs to ''investigate the alchemical transformation of ideas''.

Another exhibit, by Karla Black, was a huge pile of soil, rather like an enormous sandcastle. She explains that her sculptures are the result of ''a need to just grab the world'', so she works with ''unstable and impermanent materials''.

Whatever happened to good old-fashioned drawing and painting?

Joan

tjt6768

I think modern art these days has a bit of 'emperor's new clothes' syndrome.. If the right, influencial people say it's incredible then the idiots who dote over them agree.. Ends up in the kind of examples that you have mentioned, some idiot hippy types getting drunk and stoned, making a mess with some mud and getting their kit off and calling it art.... Then selling it for lots & lots of cash to some other idiot who believes the hype!!
Oh I hate most of that crap..
Sorry Joan, had a bit of a moany moment then, lol...

Hope you're ok...?

Tony

salamander

Ah! But did you look at it in context Joan?

Context is everything

joanlawson

Hi Tony

I actually did enjoy looking round the exhibition, but I think you are right about the 'emperor's new clothes' syndrome. I can't help wondering who decides that a slit in the wall injected with the brains of cows is art? The funny thing was that I didn't even notice it was there until it was pointed out to me. I was a bit worried about the naked man and the flames as well :!: :shock: :shock:

tjt6768

joanlawson wrote:

Hi Tony

I actually did enjoy looking round the exhibition, but I think you are right about the 'emperor's new clothes' syndrome. I can't help wondering who decides that a slit in the wall injected with the brains of cows is art? The funny thing was that I didn't even notice it was there until it was pointed out to me. I was a bit worried about the naked man and the flames as well :!: :shock: :shock:

That could have been rather painful!! Lol
I hope they had a fire blanket nearby just in case.. :shock:

Tony

joanlawson

salamander wrote:

Ah! But did you look at it in context Joan?

Context is everything

The context of the exhibition is ''In the days of the comet'', and the comet alludes to'' the measuring of time, to historical recurrence, and to parallel worlds.''

Perhaps that is the answer, some of the artists are living in a parallel world which is beyond my comprehension.

tjt6768

Perhaps that is the answer, some of the artists are living in a parallel world which is beyond my comprehension.[/quote]

Like I said Joan, alcohol and drugs!!!
Tony

salamander

joanlawson wrote:

salamander wrote:

Ah! But did you look at it in context Joan?

Context is everything

The context of the exhibition is ''In the days of the comet'', and the comet alludes to'' the measuring of time, to historical recurrence, and to parallel worlds.''

Perhaps that is the answer, some of the artists are living in a parallel world which is beyond my comprehension.

Sounds more like 'Pseuds Corner' to me!

joanlawson

I'm going to my art class today, so perhaps I should abandon painting and just make a few slits in the wall while I'm there :!: :shock:

I'm now looking at my breakfast meusli in a different light. I could be making a sculpture out of it instead of eating it. This could be accompanied by a video of me looking hungry, displayed alongside some empty dishes with spoons arranged artistically. The resulting installation could be entitled ''Empty'', thereby having some deep and dynamic intellectual meaning.

Turner Prize here I come :!:

annie_mial

This type of so-called 'art' really does make me cross.......I'm going to string together some bicycle mudguards and call it 'Wishful Thinking'...........well, might make a bob or two!

Annie

joanlawson

annie_mial wrote:

This type of so-called 'art' really does make me cross.......I'm going to string together some bicycle mudguards and call it 'Wishful Thinking'...........well, might make a bob or two!

Annie

Great idea, Annie. It beats some of the things I saw yesterday, anyway :!: