But is it Art?
Published 1 year, 11 months ago in My life.Last week I caught the end of a home improvement show where the in-house interior designer was giving tips on how to improve the look of a room.
Her finishing instructions were to buy four canvases and paint them to match the colour scheme of the room. Then buy four place mats in a contrasting colour and stick them to the middle of the canvas. Then buy four more place mats in a contrasting colour and texture and stick them around the bottom of the canvas to create and I quote ” four original artworks for under $25 each”.
Now the result of all this painting and buying and sticking was little short of hideous but it is not for me to question here anyone’s taste in place mat adornment. However, I must say I did take umbrage at it being called art!
Of course I know that art can have a million different definitions and take a billion different forms but the one thing I am pretty sure it’s not is eight place mats stuck to four canvases! Unless, and this is a big unless, the place mats represented something wholly cryptic to my eye.
Did, for instance, the place mats represent western society’s egocentric philosophy?
Were the place mats’ textural and chromatic contrasts high-lighting the precarious balance between religious ideologies in Australia?
Could these four canvases be so steeped in iconography that they rival Nolan’s “Ned Kelly” series? “Nolan’s Place Mats”, I must admit, it has a certain ring to it.
Were the place mats a commentary on the “have and have not’s” of this world?
Or
were they just crap?
I leave it with you.
3 Responses to “But is it Art?”
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I like your thoughts on this! I have spent 5 years training to be an artist and quite a few more just making art. When I come across these situations I cringe, not because I am a snob but in a mild way it makes me wonder what all the years of learning history and refining my skill are actually worth.
It seems that to most people if it resembles art it must be art. I am just lucky I love what I do and that remains my motivation to create.
Nolan place mats hey, dare I mention Ken Done! Nothing new there. Drawing a possible link between placemats and “western society’s egocentric philosophy” is great! It is amazing how much weight there is behind the mundane.
I am looking forward to more philosophy of the suburbs from you. Great work!
Well, you’ve drawn a smile on my dial.
It’s funny you say this. I am a year twelve art student and in previous end of year exams, they always question us with, ‘What is art?’ They come up with rediculous things such as sculptures made out of frozen milk, and brick structures that look like an ugly, windowless cluster of commission flats. They call it ‘art’, but then encourage us to disagree. It’s rediculous, but it provokes thoughts alike.
I guess today they try to tell us that nothing is unique and that for it to really be considered as ‘art’, it must be innovative.
The problem with these home improvement, so called, ‘interior designers’ is that they can’t differentiate between tacky and innovative.
Better still, calling these seemingly hideous things “four original artworks” is contrary to what the show is actually trying to do. How can you give advice and instructions on creating ‘art’ to somebody- AKA Australia wide- and still expect it to be original?
I enjoyed this, I share your thoughts!
I guess there is Art and then there is “FAST ART”.
Like fast food it satisfiesa quick niche , but is hardly fullfilling.