Good art should unsettle not soothe: Gormley

[j_garcia]

I liked this one, so I though others might find it interesting. This is pretty much how I feel about art (which includes music and movies):

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080305/en_nm/finearts_gormley_dc_1

Good art, says Antony Gormley, should make you feel unsettled, even challenged, and not fit neatly into your everyday life.

and

Art that makes you feel comfortable is likely to be craft, not art. It will naturally fit into conventions, not be evolving, challenging

I like the typical mass market movie, but I also like to see those "fringe" movies that challenge you to think about something. I find it entertaining to come away from an art exhibit or movie with questions rather than answers...because it is an opportunity to expand my own horizons. I will throw out that same comment I have made more than once also: Most people like their art spoon fed to them. They don't want to be challenged nor do they want to think about things that are outside of their small, personal bubble of a world. If you don't challenge yourself, who will?

/diatribe off

 

[Joe Schmoe]

There is a difference between making people think and being actively offensive. Too many movies cross that line (especially torture porn like Hostel.)

 

[j_garcia]

I agree, there are a lot of movies that are simply fodder looking for an easy buck. I haven't seen Hostel 1 or 2. Horror is fun, but those movies just looked dumb to me.

 

[Davemcc]

Good art, says Antony Gormley, should make you feel unsettled, even challenged, and not fit neatly into your everyday life.

There are enough unsettling things in the world today without my voluntarily bringing it into my home.

 

[Pyrrho]

I liked this one, so I though others might find it interesting. This is pretty much how I feel about art (which includes music and movies):

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080305/en_nm/finearts_gormley_dc_1

Good art, says Antony Gormley, should make you feel unsettled, even challenged, and not fit neatly into your everyday life.

and

Art that makes you feel comfortable is likely to be craft, not art. It will naturally fit into conventions, not be evolving, challenging

I like the typical mass market movie, but I also like to see those "fringe" movies that challenge you to think about something. I find it entertaining to come away from an art exhibit or movie with questions rather than answers...because it is an opportunity to expand my own horizons. I will throw out that same comment I have made more than once also: Most people like their art spoon fed to them. They don't want to be challenged nor do they want to think about things that are outside of their small, personal bubble of a world. If you don't challenge yourself, who will?

/diatribe off

I disagree. Good art can challenge conventions, but, in my opinion, that is only one possible function of art. Often though, I think "artists" say things like the above as an excuse for the ugly garbage they produce. They often say it isn't meant to be pretty, to ward off the problems that may occur for them when one notices that it looks just like what one throws in a trash can or scrapes off the bottom of one's shoe. It is also a way to attempt to attach grandiose ideas to the productions of those who lack talent. That way, they can sell their "art" for more money, and gain greater prestige.

If we apply Gormley's principles to music, Mozart must be judged to not be an artist. His works generally are soothing and comforting, and therefore do not meet with Gormley's conception of what art is and is supposed to do. Though I prefer Bach to Mozart, any theory, if consistently applied, that would relegate Mozart to the status of something less than an artist, is, in my opinion, drivel that is unworthy of serious consideration.

 

[Joe Schmoe]

I disagree. Good art can challenge conventions, but, in my opinion, that is only one possible function of art.

I agree. There is great art that challenges (eg Duchamp, Picasso), and equally great art that soothes (eg Marc, O'Keefe).

 

[j_garcia]

I don't think he means all art needs to challenge, and "pleasant" or attractive looking art can still challenge your brain. This is his opinion only, and I agree with the challenging part. He didn't really say anything about appearance. Art that looks like garbage thrown randomly still looks like garbage to me. A big white canvas with one line or dot on it is also pointless to me. By unsettling, I think he means you look at the art and think/feel something, not just look at it and think "That's nice".

 

[aberkowitz]

How about art that makes you celebrate and appreciate life? Or art that makes you laugh? Or even art that makes you change in a positive way?

I believe the only thing art needs to do is to provoke an emotion- and it doesn't matter which emotion. Great art, in my opinion, is that which can provoke a completely different emotion in me from the person sitting next to me, but that both of us can appreciate and recognize as masterful. And by art, I could be referring to a piece of music, a painting, a movie, a play, an opera, or even a stand up comic.

 

[STRONGBADF1]

I don't think he means all art needs to challenge, and "pleasant" or attractive looking art can still challenge your brain. This is his opinion only, and I agree with the challenging part. He didn't really say anything about appearance. Art that looks like garbage thrown randomly still looks like garbage to me. A big white canvas with one line or dot on it is also pointless to me. By unsettling, I think he means you look at the art and think/feel something, not just look at it and think "That's nice".

Agreed. Thats how I hope he meant it.


On a related subject:
Artist...........I have never really liked this word. It's over used IMO. I truly dislike when someone refers to them self as an artist. It comes from the "A big white canvas with one line or dot" Yoko's of the world. I think if you can make something real (shocking or not) from scratch and do it at a level that few other can achieve then you have earned the right for others to call you an artist.

Van Gogh and Monet always make me stare at them to look deeper into the piece. Picasso I don't get at all to me he is half way between the "A big white canvas with one line or dot" and a......well whatever.

SBF1

 

[j_garcia]

I like to take (force) the kids to go to the Museum of Modern Art to get them to open up a bit. I don't always "get it" either, but I like to see all the ideas going on... I like to wonder "what is this person trying to say" and other times "what was his person thinking?" LOL.

One of the most interesting pieces was an entire room done in black with one long LED (20ft, maybe 8" tall), randomly generated number string. The explaination was that numbers almost completely rule our lives. SSN, phone#, time, date, address, etc.... As simple as it was, I had never really thought of it that way and it made me step back and think about it quite a bit. THAT is the sort of thing I like to see.

 

[aberkowitz]

I like to take (force) the kids to go to the Museum of Modern Art to get them to open up a bit. .

I loved the MOMA in NYC until they started charging $20+ a head to get in with massive lines. It's lost some of its cache and become much more of a tourist trap, which is sad b/c has some of my favorite pieces. When I lived in Chicago I really loved the Art Institute. Since my fiancee works for Amex we get in for free to most NYC museums, which is really nice when you just want to go for an hour or 2- you don't end up feeling compelled to stay for most of the day just because you paid to get in.

 

[Joe Schmoe]

Agreed. Thats how I hope he meant it.


On a related subject:
Artist...........I have never really liked this word. It's over used IMO. I truly dislike when someone refers to them self as an artist. It comes from the "A big white canvas with one line or dot" Yoko's of the world. I think if you can make something real (shocking or not) from scratch and do it at a level that few other can achieve then you have earned the right for others to call you an artist.

Van Gogh and Monet always make me stare at them to look deeper into the piece. Picasso I don't get at all to me he is half way between the "A big white canvas with one line or dot" and a......well whatever.

SBF1

If you don't even get Picasso, you are not one to be passing judgement about who is or isn't an artist.
Also, those of us who call ourselves artists don't need for you to agree. That just means you won't buy our stuff, which is your prerogative.

 

[j_garcia]

I haven't done any art that has ever been sold nor was intended to be

 

[Joe Schmoe]

I haven't done any art that has ever been sold nor was intended to be

I haven't sold any either. I would be happy to do so if somebody likes it for what it is. I certainly don't cater to anyone's tastes, and don't care what critics or the public say. (I support myself with a non-art job precicely so that I don't have to care.)

 

[Alamar]

I think that "good art" should, to a large degree, do what the artist intends and not what we as consumers want it to do.

To say that the only good art is art that challenges you is the same [worse?] than saying "if I don't like it then it can't be art" ....

*******************************************************

On a personal level I think it's best for each person to define what art is. Otherwise what's really the point of trying to think for yourself ...

 

[j_garcia]

Art is what you take from it for sure - everyone will interperet the "meaning" differently and often not as the artist intended... I actually remember Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam) saying something about his music when asked what a particular song meant. He said "I can't tell you what it means, because that is only relevant to me. For each person that hears it, it means something completely different because they infuse their own experiences and opinions."

 

[STRONGBADF1]

If you don't even get Picasso, you are not one to be passing judgement about who is or isn't an artist.
Also, those of us who call ourselves artists don't need for you to agree. That just means you won't buy our stuff, which is your prerogative.

Hi Joe Schmoe,

I hope I didn't offen you. (or anyone) I would call you a painter or sculpter or what ever it is you do.

I didn't mean to imply that a single person can pass judgement but the public in general or better yet your peers.

I agree with you that I am not qualified to pass final judgement. I only know what I like.

SBF1