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comment by kleinbl00
kleinbl00  ·  2041 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Helen Dale: My Unpopular Opinion: There Are Too Many Mediocre Artists

    Meanwhile, universities (yes, you can go to university, rack up student debt, and ‘learn’ to be a writer) tell some people – depending on skin tone, sex, orientation, or something else – as a matter of routine they have an important and luminous story to tell because of what they are.

This is a myth. I didn't see it 20 years ago and I don't see it now. Universities generally tell students to work hard and practice.

The author is angry about something other than what she claims to be angry about - she's angry that she's subjected to "mediocre" artists (as far as her opinion is concerned). Fundamentally, however, professionals rarely get to judge what the public likes. I mean, Robert Wyland (excuse me, "Wyland") is the fundamental definition of mediocre. He's still got 15 galleries in Florida, Hawaii, Vegas and California. Wanna see the most popular work of art ever sold in the United States?

It's pretty. So are Wyland's dolphins. All of them added together don't add up to a brushstroke of Guernica but if you hang Guernica on your wall you're sending a different message than "I like dolphins." And that's okay.

I just got done with art class. The message given was "You should listen to me because once upon a time I sold some shit and you never will." I'm still doing jewelry class - the message is "remember that at the end of the day if you want to sell this stuff you need to not waste so much time on it that nobody can afford to buy it."

What she seems to be bent about is the fact that there's art she doesn't like in a gallery. Well yeah. That's because art is a game where everyone plays tastemaker and it's the easiest thing in the world to point at something five hundred years old and go "yep, art."

In 1917 Marcel Duchamp put a urinal in a room and signed it. Then Alfred Steiglitz photographed it. And for a hundred years it's been in a goddamn museum. And ever since, art teachers have had a choice between saying museums don't have art or saying art is whatever artists make. And if that's the discussion, then "mediocre" is a value judgement that pretty much belongs to the individual.

    Helen Dale won the Miles Franklin Award for her first novel, The Hand that Signed the Paper, read law at Oxford, and was previously Senator David Leyonhjelm’s Senior Adviser. Book II of her second novel, Kingdom of the Wicked – set in a Roman Empire that has undergone an industrial revolution – was launched in June this year. Book I was published in October last year. For her sins, she sometimes consults in public relations and advertising.

For those keeping track at home, that's three Amazon links in one bio with 15 reviews between them.





mk  ·  2040 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I agree that the author is angry that she is subjected to mediocre artists, and yes, she might be one. There may be some self-hate going on here. However, I feel that her beef might be with the market that supports mediocre art. In fact, she might even be upset with the market that supports her own. She might feel like a phony.

    That is why – in these modern ‘attention economy’ times – publishing houses insist on using identity politics to try to ‘move the merch’. And you read that right – intersectional feminism and mandated racial diversity are marketing and branding strategies, not politics.

I feel that there is truth to this, and unfortunately, although suck-it-up or bootstraps isn't a solution (which the author here might prefer), there is something dishonest going on on the other side too. And yes, Quillette (which ran this piece) just might have the same attention-grabbing goal by playing counterpoint.

For my part, I am left wondering why there is so much shitty art, and suspect it has something to do with our market for opinions.

kleinbl00  ·  2040 days ago  ·  link  ·  

What market supports mediocre art, exactly? Let's unpack what exactly we're looking at:

    There are too many artists, too many people who want to be artists, most of them aren’t very good, and schools should focus on inculcating self-discipline rather than dopey ‘all must have prizes’ creativity.

    So I’m at a modern art museum right now and it’s the biggest joke if i ever saw one. pic.twitter.com/qURrATBFuA

    — woke space convert (@hanmariams) August 10, 2018

This is a post by "young post neocon catholic medievalist" who (A) goes to Florida State University in Tallahassee (B) lists her URL as "catholicscomehome.com" (C) proceeds to say

    since a lot of people are now seeing this, you might be thinking, well what is quality art? BOY LET ME TELL YOU--

So. This is a college student in Florida hating on community art in Tallahassee so she can compare it to Boticelli's Madonna, which a self-publishing Australian figures is the right kind of hue and cry to illustrate how shitty art is now. Eyes on the prize, though - even ten years ago you'd have a really rough time finding out how much catholic college students hate on their local art scene, let alone use it as evidence of some pompous blog post.

Where things go pear-shaped on this one is the dudgeon and moral authority put on by the author over the low bar to art... while using anti-doctrinal outrage at community outreach in a community two oceans away as an example. That's not a "market." "Market" is when you gripe about tax dollars being used to buy a Jeff Koons. Which certainly happens, pretty much every time Jeff Koons sells something. But the fact is, I can say "Jeff Koons" and I'll bet you either (a) immediately get an image in your head or (b) go google "jeff koons" and immediately go oh that guy.

    For my part, I am left wondering why there is so much shitty art,

I'ma pull a zipcode out of my ass- 12344. Oops, that's Stockholm. Fine, let's use Maps anyway. ZOom in where it drops me. Drop street view at random. First thing I see - a tile mural. We're in a position where we can type random shit into the internet and within three clicks be looking at art in countries we've never been, that we'd normally have to walk up to in order to even notice. The shittiness has not gone up - the availability has. I consider that to be an unalloyed good.