There was an iPhone app called I am Rich for sale at 999.9$ which was withdrawn by Apple it simply displayed a multifaceted ruby . Apple’s reaction is similar to the reaction of the curators of the 1913 Armoury Exhibition.
The Armoury curators claimed they would exhibit any artist who had paid the entrance fee of 5$ but then went on to withdraw Duchamp’s Fountain, despite the fact he’d paid the entrance fee.
I’m sure you can see the connection - both I am Rich and Fountain appear on face value to have no artistic value but they have been given some measure of artistic value as indicated by thier price. I am Rich by a developer, Fountain by an artist…..which begs the questions what’s the difference between the developer and artist ? It could be argued there’s none…..
What caused the change Armory's curators change of heart? The same question could be asked of the folks at Apple…
Duchamp’s submission went onto to be voted, in the Independent newspaper’s poll of 500 UK art ‘experts’, to be the most influential work of art of the twentieth century. A Replica of Fountain was sold by Sotheby’s to Dimitri Daskalopoulos, a Greek collector, for $1,762,500. So maybe Apple are sitting on gold mine !
I never really ‘got’ it why Duchamp’s piece was so admired by so many ‘experts’ however having just done an essay comparing: Pollock –Modernism , Warhol – Pop Art and Morris – Minimalism. I can see the hand or at least the ideas of Duchamp his assisted readymades clearly inspired Warhol; he was a great supporter of Pollock; Morris’s geometrical shapes can be seen to be readymades.
Duchamp explored the idea of who is the author or artist ? What is the work or the piece of art ? What do we look for or expect of piece of art ? He challenged all these questions.
His Fountain broke the rules paving the way for Postmodernism where anything is art if ‘I’ the ‘artist’ say it’s ‘art’
Duchamp redefined what art was and who artist were in doing so broke Art free of medium specificity - freeing Art to be whatever the Artist thought Art to be.
It’s Art as I the Artist say it’s Art!
Friday, 24 July 2009
Sunday, 12 July 2009
Banksy versus Bristol Museum
Went to see Banksy versus Bristol Museum yesterday and had very enjoyable day despite the one and half hour queue....
It was a chance to see Banksy's work close up and make comparisons with my AA318 Open University Art of the Twentieth Century eye. On a personal basis I loved the paintings and sculpture, they were consistently witty and incisive often very cutting. It was fun to move around freely and take pictures, Banksy seems to turn copyright on its head making it his (and our) right to copy what we like, as he let's all and sundry copy him, just as he copies or rather steals from others!
None of the pictures, bar one had a plaque – that I could see – so I believe we were left to form our own opinion unmediated by the artist's or museum's thoughts and ideas.
I saw his work having two recurring themes :
ONE HeartField's Juxtaposition - a subversive, humorous often political message where, for example he contrasts two extremes the loving, caring mother with aggressive anti establishment off spring; the overweight well fed tourist in colour with their poor, under nourished rickshaw driver in black and white. He reserves much of his ironic contrasts for the riot police which he has gamboling thorough a grassy field or traveling on a rocking horse or escorting a donut(!) Where Heartfield dramatically contrasts two strong, often cliche images to create a third, Banksy is not so angry or fighting for a political cause like Heartfeild. Banksy's images are often softer not so menacing but nevertheless can carry a cutting message.
TWO Duchamp's assisted readymades: here Banksy copies Duchamp's idea of taking a known picture and adding his own twist to make a new image - as Duchamp twists Leonardo, so Banksy twists Rembrandt.
So at one level he's just copying and stealing, what makes his work special and original is the media which he has made his own – the use of stencil and Graffiti techniques. When his technique is coupled with his anti-establishment, mysterious, Scarlet Pimpernel like public character, taken together they make him a compelling twenty first century artist.
It was a chance to see Banksy's work close up and make comparisons with my AA318 Open University Art of the Twentieth Century eye. On a personal basis I loved the paintings and sculpture, they were consistently witty and incisive often very cutting. It was fun to move around freely and take pictures, Banksy seems to turn copyright on its head making it his (and our) right to copy what we like, as he let's all and sundry copy him, just as he copies or rather steals from others!
None of the pictures, bar one had a plaque – that I could see – so I believe we were left to form our own opinion unmediated by the artist's or museum's thoughts and ideas.
I saw his work having two recurring themes :
ONE HeartField's Juxtaposition - a subversive, humorous often political message where, for example he contrasts two extremes the loving, caring mother with aggressive anti establishment off spring; the overweight well fed tourist in colour with their poor, under nourished rickshaw driver in black and white. He reserves much of his ironic contrasts for the riot police which he has gamboling thorough a grassy field or traveling on a rocking horse or escorting a donut(!) Where Heartfield dramatically contrasts two strong, often cliche images to create a third, Banksy is not so angry or fighting for a political cause like Heartfeild. Banksy's images are often softer not so menacing but nevertheless can carry a cutting message.
TWO Duchamp's assisted readymades: here Banksy copies Duchamp's idea of taking a known picture and adding his own twist to make a new image - as Duchamp twists Leonardo, so Banksy twists Rembrandt.
So at one level he's just copying and stealing, what makes his work special and original is the media which he has made his own – the use of stencil and Graffiti techniques. When his technique is coupled with his anti-establishment, mysterious, Scarlet Pimpernel like public character, taken together they make him a compelling twenty first century artist.
Sunday, 5 July 2009
20th Century Art ? It's about bridging gaps.....isn't it?
It occurred to while reading that Warhol might be seen as 'bridg[ing] the gap between art and production' (Wood, 2004 ) much of what I’ve studied so far might also be seen as bridging gaps:
Picasso the gap between realism and abstraction.
That is a bit far fetched but it is the basis of in an interesting essay.......
On the other hand the concept does seem a useful starting pointing trying to understand and position the artist or the movement. Equally it could be basis for some new art forms how about…….
the gap between to the performance and painting
the gap between minimalist art and conceptual art
the gap between body art and land art (!)
Bibliography
Wood, P ed., (2004) Varieties of Modernisms , New Haven and London, Yale University Press
May be even..
- Duchamp the gap between art and non-art
- Surrealism the gap between reality and unreality
- Pollock gap between the easel and mural
- Minimalist the gap between painting and sculpture
- Pop art the gap between avant-garde and kitsch
- DaDa the gap between artist and non-artist
Picasso the gap between realism and abstraction.
That is a bit far fetched but it is the basis of in an interesting essay.......
On the other hand the concept does seem a useful starting pointing trying to understand and position the artist or the movement. Equally it could be basis for some new art forms how about…….
the gap between to the performance and painting
the gap between minimalist art and conceptual art
the gap between body art and land art (!)
Bibliography
Wood, P ed., (2004) Varieties of Modernisms , New Haven and London, Yale University Press
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