Why do so many people feel obliged to refer to simplistic ideas as both ‘concepts’ and ‘art’, leading to the description conceptual art? How can a concept be other than that? How can it morph imperceptibly into ‘art’?
My core definition of art is a concept which is conveyed fluently and skillfully without the need of verbal explanation. The concept is merely the beginning of a work of art - not an end in itself.
We have revered Tracey Emin’s unmade bed as art. Far worse, a Costa Rican artist last year left a dog to starve to death in a Costa Rican gallery. Now we have Tate Britain showing a supermarket till receipt (which has to be replaced regularly by a new receipt) as a work of art valued at £30,000.
This is the same Tate Britain which refuses to have an exhibition of the work of a colony of Impressionist artists who worked in and around the Yorkshire fishing village of Staithes a century ago (despite having a number of their works in their own permanent collection). They were not crass amateurs, many of them having trained in Paris at the height of Impressionism. They exhibited at all major venues and their work is in public collections throughout the world. One member of the Group who lived and worked there for ten years, arguably went on to become the best woman artist of all time: Dame Laura Knight. Another, Owen Bowen, became the President of the Royal Cambrian Academy – the Welsh equivalent of the RA. I believe that Arthur Friedenson is the best landscape painter of all time. No-one can discover this as public galleries with his work in their collections rarely have it on show. Sir Winston Churchill is reputed to have said his skies were second only to those of Constable. I believe they are better – they have great movement accurately reflected by the landscape beneath.
Isn’t it time all lovers of REAL art united against this Emperor’s New Clothes acceptance of mere concepts as art?
When the world comes to London in 2012 don’t we want to rival China with the art we have on display rather than make ourselves laughing stocks?
I have to confess to a vested interest, a business which grew out of my passion for REAL art, especially Impressionist art from the North East of England and the Staithes Group in particular. If you are interested in discovering more about this highly important movement in British art, please copy the url below and paste in your browser (I've not worked out how to do a direct link yet - sorry!) http://www.tbrj.co.uk/acatalog/Our_Next_Exhibition.html
My core definition of art is a concept which is conveyed fluently and skillfully without the need of verbal explanation. The concept is merely the beginning of a work of art - not an end in itself.
We have revered Tracey Emin’s unmade bed as art. Far worse, a Costa Rican artist last year left a dog to starve to death in a Costa Rican gallery. Now we have Tate Britain showing a supermarket till receipt (which has to be replaced regularly by a new receipt) as a work of art valued at £30,000.
This is the same Tate Britain which refuses to have an exhibition of the work of a colony of Impressionist artists who worked in and around the Yorkshire fishing village of Staithes a century ago (despite having a number of their works in their own permanent collection). They were not crass amateurs, many of them having trained in Paris at the height of Impressionism. They exhibited at all major venues and their work is in public collections throughout the world. One member of the Group who lived and worked there for ten years, arguably went on to become the best woman artist of all time: Dame Laura Knight. Another, Owen Bowen, became the President of the Royal Cambrian Academy – the Welsh equivalent of the RA. I believe that Arthur Friedenson is the best landscape painter of all time. No-one can discover this as public galleries with his work in their collections rarely have it on show. Sir Winston Churchill is reputed to have said his skies were second only to those of Constable. I believe they are better – they have great movement accurately reflected by the landscape beneath.
Isn’t it time all lovers of REAL art united against this Emperor’s New Clothes acceptance of mere concepts as art?
When the world comes to London in 2012 don’t we want to rival China with the art we have on display rather than make ourselves laughing stocks?
I have to confess to a vested interest, a business which grew out of my passion for REAL art, especially Impressionist art from the North East of England and the Staithes Group in particular. If you are interested in discovering more about this highly important movement in British art, please copy the url below and paste in your browser (I've not worked out how to do a direct link yet - sorry!) http://www.tbrj.co.uk/acatalog/Our_Next_Exhibition.html
See if you can understand why Tate Britain would show a replaceable till receipt and refuse to stage an exhibition of work by these great artists.
If you can’t understand Tate Britain’s reasoning, and you want to be part of a campaign to make public galleries understand that most people aren’t hoodwinked by the constant push to have mere concepts accepted as art, then please take the following steps whenever the opportunity arises:
choose a REAL artist whose work you particularly like (if it’s one of the Staithes Group I’ll be delighted!) and every time you visit a public gallery ask if they have any work by that artist in their collection;
if they don’t know, ask them to check;
if they have, and it/they aren’t on show (which will almost certainly be the case) ask if you can see it/them;
if they say you have to make an appointment to see it/them, then do so;
if you have time, keep the appointment and ask why it/they’re not on show.
It’s time for all of us to value REAL art to make a REAL stand for it!
If you can’t understand Tate Britain’s reasoning, and you want to be part of a campaign to make public galleries understand that most people aren’t hoodwinked by the constant push to have mere concepts accepted as art, then please take the following steps whenever the opportunity arises:
choose a REAL artist whose work you particularly like (if it’s one of the Staithes Group I’ll be delighted!) and every time you visit a public gallery ask if they have any work by that artist in their collection;
if they don’t know, ask them to check;
if they have, and it/they aren’t on show (which will almost certainly be the case) ask if you can see it/them;
if they say you have to make an appointment to see it/them, then do so;
if you have time, keep the appointment and ask why it/they’re not on show.
It’s time for all of us to value REAL art to make a REAL stand for it!
In the meantime, please enjoy the picture by Arthur Friedenson on this page.
