Abstract Art - why talk about it if you don't get it.

[i-need-a-martini]

I volunteer at a regional gallery and get to meet some wonderful, weird and wacky people.

But the ones that get up my goat are the ones who say "That looks like something a 5 year old would do." and expect me to agree with them.

And whilst we have a lot of community exhibitions that are amateurish enough (so perhaps the comment may be fair enough), the comment is usually reserved for iconic artists in major travelling exhibitions who are extremely well known.

Does anyone here like abstract art? And if you really hate it, why?

[poddster]

Richo, how sad is that? Millions spent on carp, just because of the ramblings of an art critic/advisor. Even sadder that there are still some who would be willing to pay millions just so that they can say I have Blue Poles.

[tcmsecretuseid]

That is very true, Poddy. But the "TV huh?" has turned into an appreciation for what the artist did... which is make me think about the display 5 years later. Heck, some of my photos leave a big huh. I drew stick figure drawings of posters many years ago that made a lot of people wonder what I was doing. 

Art can be very subjective. I like the colors of some of Jackson Pollocks work. Would I want one in my home? Probably not, even if they are worth millions of dollars. 

[poddster]

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@the_bob_delusion wrote:

Explain to me why their opionion is not valid. 

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Explain to me the definition of 'valid" and who validates validity 🙂

[poddster]

TCM, at any hardware store you can get color charts that have all the colors of the rainbow .............for free 🙂

In fact my artist daughter used to get color charts and cut them up into different shapes and make collages out of them when she was a kid 🙂

She had a liking for peacocks and crocodiles.

[poddster]

One of her drawings

[rabbitearbandicoot]

we went to a gallery once - Canberra I think - one particular piece of ART - a kitchen stool with a wheel on it - took my fancy. When I save up enough money, I might buy that. 

edit: Another example of the value of higher education - probably did 6 years at uni to think of that.

[j*oono]

Martini, I can see now how there are some people that you'd never want to guide through an art gallery.

[icyfroth]

What's to get? Most of it does look like a 5 yo could do it!

[go-tazz]

It's still regarded as a "great" painting for some reason but when you consider how he created it you do tend to think,yep!! a 5 year old could've done it,(he even used a "straight edge").

http://nga.gov.au/exhibition/abstractexpress/Default.cfm?IRN=36334&BioArtistIRN=17393&MnuID=3&GalID=...

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-08-28/stroke-of-genius-the-legacy-of-blue-poles/4228672

If you look at the second link the "painting" on show looks like it was done by a five year old:

White over red on blue (c.1971) by Tony Tuckson, on show at the National Gallery of Australia as part of the Abstract Expressionism exhibition.

I like paintings where you can see something of interest similar to a photo but have never been into "art" that

doesn't seem to need any "skill".

Yet,people pay millions for what I think looks like junk/garbage that seem simple to "put" together with no skill

needed to do so,

[lurker172602]

When I view art with my son the artist (who much to rabbits probable disgust did spend four years at university studying art), he suggests to me that if it made me think about it, if it encouraged us to have a conversation about it, if it moved me in any way, even negatively, then the artist has achieved what they set out to do. Art isn't just about being pretty or exact representations, it is about thinking and feeling and extending ourselves.