[TheForge] Art, doncha know....

[ries]

George, come on over to the shop- we work here every day.
I could care less about being "known as an artist".
I am often reluctant to even admit it.
I have made display racks for pretzels, fixed outboard motors, pots  
and pans, and broken toys, rehandled shovels, built a few thousand  
feet of fence, a dozen or so staircases, 1500 chairs, an ungodly  
amount of paper towel holders, skateboard rails, towel bars, and  
restaurant kitchens. I have made halloween costumes, and dinner.
I am every bit as proud of having done every one of those things as  
any "art".
So dont give me this "herd", "vacuous" or "emotional" stuff. I make  
real stuff from metal, and I dont care what its called.

You are the one who basically said everything made after 1900, (with,  
I am assuming, the exception of maybe yourself and Samuel Yellin) is  
crap.

I have merely come back with a bunch of names of living artists who  
do good work.


I have given you a whole series of actual examples of real people,  
not me, who are great artists who know what the heck they are doing.

You are the one who is speaking if vague generalities.


Again, I ask you for names of some these charlatans.
As I said in an earlier post, I could well agree with you on some-  
there are some real phone-bones out there, people like Mark Kostabi,   
Jeff Koons, Romero Britto, Thomas Kinkade, or Dennis Oppenheim, who  
make pretty weak stuff.

But from most of your statements, I get the impression you have never  
actually taken the time to look at what is good in contemporary  
sculpture. Driving by the Hirschhorn and looking out the window at  
30mph doesnt exactly give me a warm fuzzy feeling about your point of  
view.

Ever seen a Martin Puryear piece in person?
Stood underneath the Anish Kapoor sculpture in Chicago's Millenium Park?
Walked around and considered a Richard Deacon sculpture?
Been inside a James Turrell room?
Stood in front of a Richard Irwin piece, which is seemingly just a  
white disc with a light shining on it, and wondered how the hell  
magic still existed?
Stood underneath a Sarah Sze piece, thousands of everyday objects  
strung together into another world, one you could lose yourself in  
just as easily as any Escher drawing?
Watched a Jennifer Steinkamp video projection totally transform reality?


I have nothing to gain by liking any of these artists and their work.  
Nobody pays me, it doenst somehow get me in a VIP room, or get me  
free gifts.
  I dont care if you call what they do art, or lawn mowing.
I have seen, in person, the actual objects, and admired the way the  
persons brain works- and to me, thats what its all about.
this has nothing to do with my self esteem, or anybody elses.
It has to do with what I like best about being alive- seeing the  
incredible stuff that other people think of, and then make.
I dont care if its a display case of 16th century stilleto's in the  
Stibbert Museum of Armor, or "She Changes" by Janet Echelman- if it  
moves me, I like it.
And some of what moves me was made recently.

Here is a link to "She Changes". I havent made it over to Porto yet-  
not since she put it up- but in addition to this, there is a bridge  
designed by Gustav Eiffel, and some great art noveau ironwork. And  
good Port, too, of course.

http://www.echelman.com/site/portugal_project.html



Ries


On Nov 8, 2007, at 6:03 AM, George Dixon wrote:




> one mans moon beam is another mans masterpiece.   Ah..the self- 
> esteem movement strikes again.

I trust you have heard the cautionary tale 'The Emperor's New  
Clothes'.....

A story of a scam set against the shallowness of art-speak and vanity  
in which only a child (unaffected by the foolish fawning adults)  
stated the obvious, "the Emperor has no clothes on at all".

So long as the herd follows and enough vacuous adjectives are  
used.....it'll be art.

The "strongest defenses" of the current deficiencies in art here have  
been emotional or vague...or tied to a rare exception.   Egos are so  
fragile, eh?
As I said earlier, there are those who have an investment in the  
status-quo and there are those who care more about being 'known as an  
artist' than they are about what they produce.

Bottom line, good art does not need explanatory titles, superfluous  
adjectives or...any defense at all.
Nor does it need a gimmick to make it 'new'.  "Modern art" depends on  
all of that...and fawning adults with no enlightened kiddies in the  
room....to survive.

Get into the shop and prove me wrong....


Hah,
George Dixon
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Ries Niemi
Industrial Artist
http://www.riesniemi.com/