Friday, November 12, 2010

Artists Without Opinion



I am noticing the same thing on blog after blog: Shouldn't we get tired of "nice painting, love the colors, beautiful texture"? That is so easy to do these days and with computer editing

we can make six paintings out of one! If the goal of art is color coordination to the matching furniture there are a lot of us indeed! I confess I like art with an opinion, an artist's interpretation of this world we live in. That is the reason I really look at other's work, look at the comments made and even look at who is commenting. I want to understand the artist behind

the canvas, dig as deep as I can, I want to know what they are trying to tell me. To me that is understanding art. I have seen really, really well executed works, landscapes for instance, that are almost flawless in their presentation and I know they will never "become famous" because they are too pretty, without a single proud tree in a dieing forest, no pollution, no clear-cut logging areas, not a single curious thing to wonder about. Pretty picture, nice job, good work!

The few of us that dare to create a discussion either in our blogs or comments to others are met by silence. If artists, people with energy, emotion, and insightfulness are silent there is little hope for this world. Artists who "hide their light under the bushell" will never be found.

My current laugh in our absurd world is the cruize ship that went adrift off of California, stranding almost 4,000 passengers, requiring them to eat cold food and fresh salads for almost three whole days! In a world where half its population goes to bed hungry every night these passengers have acquired an adventure of a lifetime, and a return of their ticket price and another offer of a free cruize! Is life Grand or what?

7 comments:

Dionne said...

Great Point. The art that moves me has always been the kind that is different. The type that leaves you with emotion. The type you are talking about here is emotionless,it may be well executed but where is the emotion that will move another.

As to the ship, all I can say is it never fails to amaze me what makes the news as "a terrible ordeal" when people all over the world face the real terrible ordeals every day of their lives, and we rarely hear about them.

Jerry Carlin said...

Hi, T.Knowley, you condenced my thoughts, both of them, just perfectly!

Anonymous said...
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Jerry Carlin said...

Hi Pamo, not necessarily TRUE feelings I am not even sure what tat would mean, just feelings or emotive strokes would be fine. You actually do this well in your cartoons! As for the news, it is mostly lies anyway, you are not missing much!

Barbra Joan said...

I guess I'm at a loss for words right now.. Not quite sure what your looking for... especially from an artist that paints flowers, animals , and women. I've said in my bio on another site that I paint those subjects to bring a little beauty and joy into an otherwise not so beautiful world .for the most part the news is so damn ugly .. I do read it but sometimes sorry that I did.
Comments on blogs? well, what else can someone say to me when I paint pretty things...? Plenty of emotion and controversy in my personal life,so I keep my art simple, thats the way I like it.
Simple and Pretty so ... pretty simple huh?

Fickle Cattle said...

I totally agree. Unless you're willing to put something on the line as an artist, it can never really rise above "nice" or "cute". And that's not necessarily bad, but shouldn't artists aim for greatness?

http://ficklecattle.blogspot.com/

Maundering mutterer said...

Hmmm. Playing devil's advocate: maybe you're missing something? Sure, some pictures say 'Behold the injustice of whatever-it is' but some just say: 'This is pretty. Hope you like it too'. Perhaps it won't be remembered, but its still a valid statement