Sound simple doesn’t it . . . . even a 5 year old child could answer THAT question.
So why do I ask? Well, you see, I have a “problem” with what some people call “art” in relation to my frame of reference. Let me explain . . . but first let me go back to the beginning.
Today, as I read Portafolio over my morning coffee I noticed that an artist called Pepe Gonzalez was going to exhibit soon at the Quinta Gallery in Bogota. He stated that he believes (and I paraphrase in my translation) that art in not an expression but rather a visual expression of a thought.
Not to be rude but . . . what a load of codswallop – or at the very least a limited way of most probably defending HIS art! Art is much bigger than such a statement.
Art over the last 1000 years has taken a great number of presentations which go from staid representations to full-blown expression of the artist SOUL – yes SOUL !!!!! I believe that an artist can try and express his soul in many of his/her works. Most of those reading here would know of Jackson Pollock and of the various artists that followed in his style . . . even before him there was Picasso – I am convinced that some cubist work can also be described as full expression of the artist being.
Unfortunately, more and more art (as I conceive it) seems to be being drawn into the realms of thought experiments and the architectural aloofness that befits high priests. Damien Hirst is NOT an artist.
Sorry . . . . didn’t hear correctly you murmur. I will repeat: Damien Hirst is NOT an artist.
He is an ARCHITECT. He is a real-life “Bob the Builder” working with playdough and stuff. He himself admits that the staff artists that he hires to paint his art (sorry – ideas) are better then he at doing so – that´s why he hires them of course!
Now . . . . I am also NOT saying that he is NOT talented – he is. But he is a thinker of the architectural school of thought. He DESIGNS pieces for museums. Doris Salcedo is also an art worker of this mode . . . and also a talented woman – but is she an artist?
So, now you understand. Don´t you? I bet Damien does. He KNOWS he´s an architect and WE should know he is an architect because is has made loadsamoney! Only architects make the kind of money he has – building his cathedrals from formaldehyde. His next move will probably be to use kosher cows in his works to attract a new section of market interest!!! Check out Ayn Rand´s book “The Fountainhead” to see where architects are positioned in society . . . quite a bit above artists.
The breach between what art was, whether a representation of expression (as per Pepe), or a real definition of expression captured in an artwork as one would capture an expression of emotion on movie film and what many believe it to be today . . . a representation of a thought – really has a lot of road yet to travel before it can really arrive at an understanding public´s door.
