Quote by LittleBambi
I, personally, think we are all entitled to our opinions on what 'art' is and whether we like it or not. Art is subjective, personal and open to interpretation.
As are opinions on opinions on art. Especially on forums.
Quote by LittleBambi
Recently I went to the beach with a friend who works as an artist....she had painted a tyre gold and rolled it in the sea. She then proceeded to take numerous photos of this. I asked her what the thoughts, ideas and concepts were and she said 'oh, I don't know. I don't have any. I was hoping the viewer might be able to come up with something when they look at it'. Is that art? Well, not to me. But you should have seen people coming up with deep thoughts, whilst raving about the wonder that is a gold tyre in some dirty water, when it came to the exhibition.
That's exactly what an artist would say. No artist is going to spell out what their work means... How lame would that sound if she told you what you're supposed to feel when viewing her creations. That's like a chef telling you what to taste when you eat their food like it's somehow gonna make it taste better if they do... A chef makes the food speak for itself or else it's a failure. He can't convince you that the food is good. This is the most typical response by an artist when they are asked what their work means. They will all say. "oh I don't know, its just fun, it looks pretty, what do YOU think, it just came to me, its nothing just some paint on the canvas haha." That's what they will say. I mean painting a tire gold... A GOLD RING, rolling into the ocean. The symbolism there might as well hit you over the head like a sledge hammer... You honestly think a gold ring drowning in a sea is just random? Trust me, she thought about that a bit before committing time to create it. An artist is asking the viewer a question. Whether the viewer can answer it or not is up to them. They already asked the question with the art. They aren't gonna give you an answer too. That's up to you.
At the risk of sounding pretentious to any philistines reading this thread... I will give you an example of this practice at play here in our very own corner of the internet. Yes, this is about something I wrote. It's not just about fucking and getting high in some of my stories.
So in this story this exchange happens after the main character is savoring a piece of lemon cake and eating every bit of frosting on her plate.
"I don't care about eating all of my cake and not having any left, Jonas."
Jonas sat, watching Valerie in silence for several seconds before asking. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"I don't know, I just thought it sounded cool."
The title of this story is Let Her Eat Cake.
Having your cake and eating it too is a MAJOR theme of this story but I literally tell the reader, through the main character, that it really doesn't mean anything, just sounds cool. I tell the reader there is no theme, no deep meaning, nothing. But really, as I'm writing, that is not the case at all. I am trusting the reader to pick up on that theme throughout the story, with all of the major characters, without me spelling it out for them. I want them to get it on their own. Wether they do or not is their loss or gain.
Your friend knows that it will go over most people's head so she, like most artists aren't going to tell you what it means. She aint gonna light your cigarette and smoke it for you too. Know what I'm sayin'?
That calls for a celebration, indeed 