Monday, April 12, 2010

Discussion: Why Beauty Matters BBC Documentary

My friend Pat Ann sent me a link to this video:



It is an interesting thesis. I am curious what others think. Obviously, the fine art critics have always disliked illustration and do not consider it to even be art. I suppose this could be tied into the value of art discussion Scott started a couple days ago. I have to admit, I share the documentary's boredom of much modern art. I really like good drawing and illustration which is not always (or even often) a component in shows. (I am excluding sculpture although it is similar).

It is interesting that there is an increasing interest in "outsider art" which has a lot of illustration.

It was a good sign I think that the Cincinnati Art Museum did a show of C.F. Payne's work. Maybe opinions are changing?

7 comments:

  1. Just heard that this video ignited a firestorm of controversy on Facebook. Curious... What is it that gets people so riled up? Is there even room for a discussion?

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  2. Thanks for posting it. I totally love this topic. I can see both sides here, but I am a shameless lover of beautiful art.

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  3. I'll tell you what gets people all riled up and the riling up comes from the conceptual modern art types. They haven't the talent to develop true painting/drawing skills so they are threatened by those who have mastered these disciplines.

    I'm a lowly cartoonist and off the top of my head I'll come up with a modern art "concept". First glue four wooden poles into a 2x4 and place on the ground. Then glue four plates on top of the four poles. Now place a sandwich on plate one, a sandwich with two bites taken out of it on plate number two, a half eaten sandwich on plate number three and a few bread crumbs on plate number four. I call my masterwork..."Life Of A Sandwich". Now all I have to do is have an influential art critic or two champion my "genius" and I'm on easy street!

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  4. Now THIS is the post I thought would be a big discussion. I was very wrong... :)

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  5. Only had a chance to watch the first of the six segments so far, but it's great having these points brought into discussion in a rational way...

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  6. I'm slowly working through it. The 1st video which Christina links to is really just the preamble. It's a great presentation, and way more involved than the typical "what is art?" discussion that I usually find pretty tiresome.

    Thanks for the post, Christina!

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  7. Very thoughtful and interesting, thanks for the link.

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