Our Art

Imagine us going to some restaurant. Journalists have been publishing very favorable about this place. They are telling us this is Michelin guide worthy. We eat there and the food appears to be horrible. This is not only you dislinking the food but me too. What are we to do? Do we sue the journalists? Do we say to each other: "Maybe the cook did not have his day", or maybe we were just not in the mood. A few weeks later we go to the same restaurant and what happens? The food is even more horrible than we remembered. We now look the restaurant up on the Internet (we should of course have done that in the first place) and it appears that more customers visiting this restaurant have similar experiences. We also post our comments. For sure we will never visit this restaurant again and we willl see that the number of visitors to the resaurant will decrease and in time the restaurant will cease to exist, provided the level of cooking remains the same, despite the favorable journalistic articles in papers and magazines.
Now, inspired by art-journalists and art-critics, who wrote about the art in their paper/magazine, we decide to visit a modern-art-museum where this splendid art is housed. Despite the fact that it is us, the tax payers, that funded the museum and it's contained art in the first place, we are asked for an admission fee (why??). We look at the pieces of art on display and we simply do not like what we see. We are appalled by most of the works although some can enchant us.
Looking at the supposed art of a pile of shit and just a few meters away enjoying the beauty of a painting by Kandinsky. Checking out a floor (?) of wreckwood by Korean artist (Jewyo Rii) you are allowed to walk on provided you are careful not to "wreck" it, and again some yards away you can

Jewho Rii

see sublime work by Chagall or Mondriaan. We can have an endless discussion as to why the first is crap while the other is sheer gold but let's cut it short and again ask someone to explain what the beauty of shit (cowshit??, Bullshit??) or wreck wood on the floor is.
No need to explain the Kandinsky, Chagall or Mondriaan. Even my grandchildren (yes I am that old and yes they are that young) enjoy these works of art without so much as a question.

Why do we all let so much money go to waste on so called works of art. Because the journalists say so, because the critics say so. Because the artists have a "cockemamie bullshit" story about this piece of work? As long as museums keep on investing in so called art as opposed to true art, museums and critics alike cannot count on the support of the man in the street and this while art is intended for everyone even the man in the street. 

Marc Chagall

Mondriaan

 All three artworks are to be found in the VanAbbeMuseum in Eindhoven in the Southern part of The Netherlands. While the Chagall and the Mondriaan are really nice to look at for everyone, it is only the merchant of wood who would like the wreckwood floor as he might be able to make a deal and earn some money on the sale of wood for someone's fireplace.

Have a look at true art featured on www.artgallery-amsterdam.com

 

Your Art

First of all an apology to ALL of my readers :). I have taken the spotlight yesterday by posting MY ART before I even considered that firstly I had to say something about YOUR ART. Hope this addition to the blog will make up for that. I am not an artist and I bet you are not either but we are both interested in art. We are the art lovers. We are the public the artist wants to please. Let's be honest, an artist is just a business man trying to sell his stuff. He needs to make sure that a market exists for the work he produces. Whether he sells his stuff to you or me is of no interest to the business man AS LONG AS HE SELLS. We know from our experience that salesmen will go to great lengths to sell what he has to offer. As an analogy this should also be true for artists. However for some reason there is a catch. Unlike shop owners, (internet)marketeers, everyone selling anything, artists use a cunning way of selling. They need to be popular in order to get rid (!) of their products. Every artists, be it a painter, sculptor, musician etc. needs advertising channels. Not often these channels at first consist of art/music etc. critics. If a critics says or writes favorable stuff about the art, chances are the artist will sell. Unlike everyday shopping articles (also advertised and criticized) artists and their critics make a joint effort to sell based not on what you and I like, but what they like. They really explore every possibility to let you and me believe that the artists' product is the best art can offer (just read my previous posts on an artwork composed of shit). The task of the artist would be to make things that are, at least, acceptable. From there the question whether it is beautiful, worthwhile, buyable etc. is in the hands of the public, YES: you and me. You decide on what you like, you think beautiful, you would like to own. You and me, we art lovers, we tell the artist about his product. It is not up to the artist nor up to the critics to tell us what to think. Thought this kind op practice died, apart from a very few countries around this world, some 20 years ago when east and west got to know eachother a little better.Well enough said about this issue in the past blog material. On to the things that are reallyu important. Yesterdag I showed you som pieces of artwork I like. These were two dimensional.Today I would like to show you this sculpture.

It is simply sold over the Internet at a  price of $ 150.00 It is called: Contemporary Modern Abstract Art Wall sculpture w/mirrors by A.Tarpley and can be ordered multple times. Because of the production (handpainted) copies may vary a little from each other. Too bad this is not a unique piece but at least I do think it very nice. For sale at http://www.artfire.com. Although I have told you I kind of like this wallsculpture, the real question is if you like it. Is this your "cup-of-tea". Do help me in order to find out what this blog addition is about and tell me what YOUR ART is. Tell me what you like and I will try and get it in this blog in the following weeks.

Coming up soon: A Special Issue About the Discrepancy between Museums buying Art, and   Art Buyers!!!!!!!

My Art

You might have noticed I am not a very regular Blogger. This has to do with the way I see and feel art and the fact that I do not think everyone needs to know all the time what I am thinking about art. Once in a while I really get the urge to share my thoughts with someone, anyone. If this point has been reached I will publish a new addition to the blog. Yesterday I told you about my aversion against critics and artists fooling us. I also promised you I'd like to mention a few pieces of art work I really appreciate.
Let me begin by telling you that I simply adore bright colors. Of course I realize not everyone will be into the same aesthetic sense. I also know (see my previous posts in this blog) that we all have our own taste. But solemnly swear you hate piles of shit (although I think there are a few shit lovers out there but that has nothing to do with art).

I have just been disturbed during the wrting of this blog by some news about the artist +David Hockney. As a result I stopped writing to browse the Internet for examples of his works. I'd like to saÿ: "To my surprise I saw some fine examples of his art". But that would be a blatant lie. As always and with most artists I do like his work, but not all of it. Some pieces are really great while others cannot pass my judgement. Do not forget that I am NOT an art critic but an art lover. This doesn't mean that I love everything with an art-label. I judge from my feeling toward what I see.

So by sheer chance it is Hockney that can carry away my approval. What else would be nice enough to mention. In my previous post I told you about the soup. Well I would say that +Andy Warhol too made some pretty nice pieces of art. I hate the cans but really love the Marylin portraits. It goes without saying that the two examples I have given so far are just chosen at random. Warhol and Hockney alike have made more beautiful things than I will be able to show. But they also made some very (yes remember my eyes) ugly pieces of art (or is it art).

Next to the pictures I have placed between my text I can sum up numerous works of art that are worth while. Just a stroll over the Internet will open up new worlds of art, even for me. One of these strolls led me to some website showing this artwork by +Chaya Kupperman. I do not go into the details of this artist because first of all I do not know anything about her and second I do not care. What I do care about the fact that the work (shown here) is very nice to look at. It can put millions of thoughts into your (my) brain. This is exactly what I am on about for the past weeks or month. It is not the critic or the artist calling the shots, it is the spectator who makes a painting or sculpture or wahtever has been wrought by the artists to be art in his or her eye. 

Last but certainly not least I would like to share the latest addition to our site with you. The relatively unkown painter Dirk Sta van Uiter has made some pretty amazing stuff. Please feel free to look at his artworks on our site: www.-artgallery-amsterdam.com. To the left is an example of his colorful work. On mentioned site you will find more works of art that might interest you. Like I have told you time and again, you will be the judge of these artworks. In order to judge however you will have to look at the works/paintings/sketches/sculptures etc. Even I had to look at a huge pile of shit in a museum to judge it not to be art. Thusfar, by the way, I have had no comments nor has anyone volunteered to offer som explanations to me (see previous blog). I still keep the invitation open so if anywhere out there someone is willing to teach me about the meaning of shit and other ugly things in art, I am open to it.

So far I have only been talking about two dimensional art forms. I intend to write about three dimensional art soon. I will not write about video art because it is completely lost on me.

Your Art or Mine?

We all know comments on art like: "This could have been produced by my little brother/nephew", or "This is truely rubbish", and "How can he/she call him(her)self an ARTIST". This has all to do with the obvious contradiction between modern art as opposed to more traditional art. The other day I visited the "Van Abbemuseum" in Eindhoven in the South part of the Netherlands. What I saw actually scared me. All the serious comments on art pieces shown in this museum do give me the idea that just a few people famous for their knowlegde of art, the real pro's, the art-critics, are pulling the legs of the spectators. Most of the audience looks at the "works of art", read what has been said by mentioned art-critics and begin conversations amongst each other repeating the words of these critics, thus celebrating this "art". Even a pile of shit (this really is no joke) is considered a fine work of art. Well I have got news: I produce an artwork a day in the smallest room of the house!!!

I do plea with everyone for a more realistic view on art.

PLEASE DO READ MY WORDS THE WAY THEY ARE MEANT: I am not opposed to modern art (in my next blog I will mention some modern works I really like). But let it be art, let it be a blessing to look at and do not let the so called artists and their so called critics get away with making shit or rubbish be placed in our (costly) museums. Don't let artists and critics alike fool you with the figments of their twisted imaginations. As I am well underway with writing my frustrations away, I would like to invite anyone to help me understand why the pile of shit or a stack of demolition wood is considered ART. While we are on the subject, please do also help me to see why a floor of peanutbutter, measuring 4 x 14 yards would have to be considered art. Another example of this fine art, take a pallet, put two gardenchair next to each other on this pallet and throw a bucket full of paint or tar over these chairs. Leave it as it is to dry and "A-La" a new piece of art has been conceived. Now we show the "art" to the "critics" and when all is said and done some poor sod will buy this briljant piece of........CRAP (maybe even with our tax-money).
I do believe this has all been instigated way back in the fifties and sixties of the past century. As an illustration we can look in the supermarkets of those days and take a look at can of soup. No one in his right mind would consider this art. One day however someone bored right our of his skull drew up a can of soup on a piece of paper and everyone (after having read what the proper "art" authorities thought about this) just loved this piece of art. After having lived with the lies about art for so long, no one dares to go back in their opinion about these so called artworks. As a vast amount of money has been invested in this so called art, is feels almost a necessity to maintain the status quo on art. AGAIN, please do understand that the soup artist has also produced really nice things, no question about that. But it is time we learn to shift true art and crap. It happened before that things that were once valued highly can now only be seen in junk yards, garage sales etc. Let's return shit to where it belongs and remove it from our museums. We can use the freed up space for things we really value. Can't be too hard.
No illustrations this time for fear I get in trouble for misusing copyrights (HA HA).

What Art!

What Art!

I do think we can agree to the fact there is art in everything around us, in everything we do. Whether it be in writing, composing, sculpting, painting, drawing, photographing etc. Art on the other hand isn't only an active side of our lives. It has also a passive side, looking, hearing, feeling, smelling, tasting, playing, enjoying etc. For some reason I get the feeling that the people that are active in art in whatever way, tend to make a humongoues thing out of art. They, the artists, their critics, all people making (or trying to) a living out of art, tell the world, which incidentally is us, what is great art and what is not.
The ones on the passive side of art tend to believe what artists and critics tell about art. This leads to an undersirable effect. Art "approved" by the loudest artists and their loudest critics (or suitors), gets a "fit-for-museum" stamp and thus is removed from the view of the passive art lover. Prices for these artworks are so high only the rich and famous can afford to hang it on their walls or place it in their homes, thus extracting these artworks from view. Rather sad to know that a lot of works of art simply vanish to private collections, or end up in a museum. To make it even worse the complete circus is paid by the public. Two things can be said about the vast majority of this public. One, they are the passive art-lovers and two, they hardly ever visit a museum. In short, the publc is deprived of lots and lots of works of art.

Art is not intended for the happy few. Art should be mainstream and be accepted by large numbers of people. Impressions of our heritage, our world, are nearly always praised by anyone. Analog to this is another artform, music can be divided into music for the millions and music for small groups of style lovers. One cannot say that the one form or style of music is better than the other. Similar to music one can't possibly say one art form or style is better than the other. Please keep looking around for the things that make life beautiful for that is what art is all about. Art is NOT about museums that hide away their precious possessions in immense buildings where most people never tread.

 

Next time I will give you some examples of art "approved" by critics and art worshipped by the general public.

www.artgallery-amsterdam.com

www.artgallery-amsterdam.nl

www.artgallery-amsterdam.eu

 

 

 

Always Art?

Always ART?

YES!! I would think ART always, always ART. As explained in my previous post ART is omnipotent. Art is everywhere just to make the sun shine and warm you. This is particularly needed in wintertime when we tend to move away from the dark and cold outside. Just by doing so we lose the connection to the things we need the most. Lack of oxygen, nature and thus art makes us grumpy and restless. We long for better days without realizing these days are just on our doorstep if only we would open the door and explore a whole new kind of world where, altough cold and rough and white, lost of experiences await us. On the really nice days the sun will shine without feeling the warmth on our skins.

The same is true for above painting. We see the sun, we see the brightness and the splendid colors but we fail to feel the sun tickling on our skin. The artist of this painting has truely captured the icecold sun of January. We see it and can only dream about the better times when we can acusally feel the sun burning. Now we are getting close to the real thing. Obviously art helps us interpret reality in a way that suits us. This is of course different for all of us. Above example is my interpretation while I can imagine someone else concluding the opposite and feeling the warmth of this sun while longing for wintery times with a weak sun shining on snow and ice.

Where is Art

Where is Art?

As most people I have been brought up to believe art is to be found in a museum. As I have, until recently, never been particularly interested in art, I have left it that way. Musea, and especially moder art musea, were in my mind places to avoid. Most of the art these places are filled with are propably made by a weird kind of people whose functions/skills are on the same level as my little six year old nephew. "Who is afraid of Red Yellow and Blue"? Well I am actually. I do not mind the colors, nor am I afraid of them. I do mind the fact that this product of Barnett Newman (version III), hanging on the expensive walls of Het Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, is called a masterpiece when all I can see is blue, yellow and an awfull lot of red. Strictly this is not true says my doctor. He claims I am color blind. Extremely so in the red sction. Anyway for some reason I do love some kind of art and others I plainly detest. As most people on this earth I tend to like bright colors so obviously all expressions of art using vivid colors have my preference. Take below example:



I simply love the bright colors. I love the composition and I really love the fac t one can dream away with this picture. I can be all kinds of things in your imagination. I do challenge you to come up with the figments of your imagination. Having said this we can return to everyday life. When travelling from your home to work and back, going out to dinner, having a holiday, sunbathing, ice skating, swimming or skying, practically every moment of your life is filled with colors and images. Sometimes these images can make you happy and somtimes they don't. And although just a very limited number of images is hanging on a wall or is preserved by man in a museum, that does not mean these images and colors are not art. To answer my own question: "Where is art?" I dare say that everywhere, in every moment, in every season and in every mans life there is art. For art is, like God, everywhere and all the time. Art is omnipotent.