[TheForge] Art, doncha know....

[ries]

George- one mans moon beam is another mans masterpiece.

What we are talking about here is subjective personal opinion.

Take any historical era.
How many truly incredible geniuses were painting in the time of  
Michealangelo?
ten?

And how many today?

Which is the exception, and which is the rule?


Its true, that in the age of the De Medici's, the taste of a half  
dozen really wealthy people set the standard for the entire  
"civilised world" (which, of course, excluded everything but a small  
swatch of western europe).
And today, there are thousands of competing styles, esthetics,  
fashions, and types of art and craft.
So there are choices today, where in the renaissance, there were  
none- you either looked at the paintings that the wealthy and the  
pope liked, or you looked at nothing.

You are certainly welcome to think that Jackson Pollock, or Andy  
Warhol, are "lame painters".
I do not.
I am not stupid, or uneducated, or cowed by some mythical cabal of  
critics.
Instead, I have travelled the world, looking at paintings that go  
back up to 20,000 years. I have studied art since I was a child. I  
have read a great deal, and, I think most important, I have actually  
looked at, in person, thousands of artworks, modern and ancient.
And developed OPINONS based on what I have seen and read.

I would say I am just as entitled to those opinions as you are to  
love whatever painters you love.
And just as right, or wrong, as you are.

You like what you like. Thats great. I like different things- thats  
what makes us unique humans, instead of clones.

And you did not address my point about modern blacksmiths, an area we  
all know more about than abstract painting, being just as good as old  
ones.

Are Micheal Bondi, Scott Lankton, Al Paley, James Wallace, Russell  
Jacque, Dan Miller, Maurice Hamburger, Peter Ross, Peter Renzetti,  
and a hundred more I could name, all "exceptions"?

I have just gotten back from Buenos Aires, a city filled with late  
19th century ironwork- literally thousands of buildings with hand  
forged balustrades, gates, and window grilles. All done at a time  
when immaculate handwork was common, time was cheap, and quality was  
paramount. And the vast majority of it is not as inspired as much of  
the modern work we see in america today. It is competent, well done,  
copies of french provincial or art noveau- but there are only a few  
masterpieces.
A city like that, which, for a variety of political and economic  
reasons, has not been ruined by the 20th century and walmart, lets us  
see that great artists have always been few. And that the good old  
days were not really so much better- different, certainly, and I am  
not discounting 20th century capitalism's downgrading of the quality  
of absolutely everything in exchange for profit. Me, I dont wanna be  
a consumer. I buy few things, and select them carefully.

As for "the work stands alone"-

Well, it does, IF you know what you are looking at.

The average contemporary american could look at two pieces of  
metalwork, side by side- say, a home depot piece of "ornamental  
iron", made of stick welded 1/2" square tube, with a snap in plastic  
lambs tongue, and a section of Yellin Railing for a mansion, and,  
frankly, not be able to tell the difference.
I have seen supposedly educated, wealthy people, with "taste", choose  
absolutely horrific stuff again and again.
No critics told em to do it.

Similarly, if you have never taken the time to study it, you might  
confuse a $15 offset printed poster from a frame shop with an Agnes  
Martin painting- she is a 90 something year old woman artist, who has  
been living alone in the desert near Santa Fe for 50 years or so,  
painting exquisite minimalist geometric line drawings, that, at first  
look, especially online, inevitably bring up the "emporers new  
clothes" comments. But when you look, really look, and read about  
what she does, and why, a whole new world opens up.

Contemporary art may not be to your taste. And thats fine. But  
speaking as someone who has been around modern art and artists all  
his life, I can say that its real, and that it is often, (but  
certainly not always) made by people who are educated, talented, and  
seriously thinking about what they do, and why.

Then there is the whole questions of ideas versus technique.

Me, I am a pants and suspenders man- I want both.
I know some true master craftsmen, who, frankly, couldnt design their  
way out of a wet paper bag. And I know some incredible thinkers whose  
work looks like crap because they are too undisicplined to actually  
learn how to make stuff.
And in between, we have people who understand both.

Many, many modern artists, whose work you would probably dislike,  
FIRST become extremely skilled at their craft, and then proceed to  
make stuff that is not to the taste of many traditionalists.
Has nothing to do with tiddly winks- has to do with interesting  
brains following an idea and seeing where it goes.
For instance, I, personally, love the early cut metal work of Bill  
Woodrow- now, this guy is quite competent in most sculpture  
techniques, and when he does cast bronze stuff, its immaculately  
modeled and finished.
But for a period of years, he chose to pick up junk from the street,  
and using nothing but a pair of tinsnips, pull, in one case  
literally, rabbits out of hats. The stuff is made of garbage,  
literally, with none of your 19th century craftsmanship, and yet,  
every time I see one in person, I am entranced. He is so DAMN SMART.  
I only wish some of my own work could be so deft, so clever, so  
mysterious.
A piece like this, in which a roman helmet somehow jumps out of a car  
door and a parafin heater-
http://www.billwoodrow.com/dev/sculpture_by_year.php? 
i=2&sel_year=1982&page=2&num=36
well, I have seen this stuff in person, and it does, as you say,  
stand on its own.

Ries

On Nov 7, 2007, at 5:38 AM, George Dixon wrote:

The occasional exception does little to disprove a reality.
Being a competent draftsman, but a lame painter does not in any  
manner bolster one's painting resume.

Kinda like "he might have lost the race, but you should see his skill  
at tiddely-winks"..........

Everyone 'knows' someone who does not fit the overall  
picture..........but the picture remains the same.
Many have an investment in the shallow status-quo...not unlike the  
tailor weaving moon beams for some naked emperor.

The work stands alone.

George Dixon

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Ries Niemi
Industrial Artist
http://www.riesniemi.com/