it's a sad day when you get a circular in the mail advertising bargain bottom art warehouse sales, complete with coupons. 'buy quality replicas of the great masters,' it claims. it's no wonder some take issue with the art world, questioning its validity, and demeaning fine artists with remarks like, 'my kindergartner could do a better job.' why support the artist when you can just drive to your local wal-mart and pick up an 8x10 'starry night,' along with your bulk toilet paper and king sized m&m's.
how can any fine artist be taken seriously when the general public is force fed images of velvet elvis', thomas kincade's and nagel prints? is it really appropriate to market art in the same flyer advertising pizza hut's new dippin' strips pizza?
- Current Mood:
aggravated - Current Music:entertainment tonight theme
Profile
artworkslive- baby smith
- My Website-BabySmith.net
Comments
You know, I've actually been thinking about this a little bit lately... I'm a huge fan of art but I'm afraid I'm worse than a neophyte when it comes to art appreciation. Like music and poetry, I'm trying to understand it, so I talk to artistic friends, read the occasional book, etc. I know when I like certain works but others baffle me. I love these shows that they have on PBS where they take a work of art and then examine it in detail and reveal, using their expert eye, all the details I'd never noticed! I love that because I appreciate all they expose about that work. So when I see cheap copies at Target or anywhere else, I'm inclined to buy them. Or, having famous works of art on my desktop, I find myself staring at them every now and then and sometimes appreciating them. Or if I see a book on art, I'll glance through it and possibly buy it. Isn't that a good thing? Doesn't it let us appreciate the artist and the art a little more? Certainly we can't all afford the originals and I can see the argument that it might lessen the worth of the work if it's just lumped in with the more "menial" aspects of life (which might be up for some debate). But if you can't make it to an art museum, then don't these more popular outlets allow the dissemination of the art and make it more likely for greater numbers of people to appreciate those works and, by extension, art in general? That's my $0.02 (but, for a limited time, you can get a 15% discount with a valid coupon! :)...
i guess my problem lies largely with the mass production of what i call 'crap art.' in my opinion, these art marts are barfing out what the public wants, not necessarily what it needs..substantive, thought provoking, mind bending material. yeah, yeah, art's subjective, and who am i to say certain art is crap? well, i'm not saying ALL fine artists who create original works are masters of their field either. it's just that these mega art plexes, art/frame stores, wal-marts, etc. give the public a false impression of what quality art really is. and by making this prefab, tasteless art commodity so readily available, the consumer is left numb, unable to digest anything beyond the obvious. this whole spoon feeding effect makes it easier for people NOT to visit museums, galleries, artist studios,etc. where developing interpretation and cultivating individual likes and dislikes naturally happens. from this springs appreciation. by drowning the market, attention is diverted away from hard working artists like myself and just reinforces this whole 'off the rack' mentality. it makes my job all the more difficult, not that i'm complaining. well, maybe i am. but, i realize i'm in a tough profession and don't want any hand outs. i actually think it's a great challenge doing what i do.
i applaud you for listening to npr and reading books and buying whatever art you can buy, replica or not (i've been just as guilty..hey, i can't afford originals either. well, at least the big names). i'm afraid most people who buy anything reproduced don't have a millionth of your appreciation, though. and that's what i'm getting at. some people are just so damn lazy.
and you're not alone when you say you're intimidated by the whole art world. it really boils down to what you connect with. nobody says you have to understand everything that permeates the art world landscape. hell, it's a mystery to me most of the time, and i'm an artist! so, don't feel bad. you're waaaay ahead of the game..
on the bright side:
when redeeming the coupon, at least they can ask for extra cheese!
your cracked up neighbor must be stompin' tonight, huh? hopefully this rain'll deaden the racket..
Cooool ......
they GLOW IN THE DARK!