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?

[gleee58]

Talking about the National Gallery and pushing the boundaries

http://www.dailylife.com.au/news-and-views/dl-culture/i-walked-through-the-national-gallery-of-austr...

[gleee58]

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@poddster wrote:

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@i-need-a-martini wrote:

All of those artists DO need a trained eye to work out what their paintings are about.

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So that they too can 'Understand" what the artist had for breakfast the morning of the day it was finished.

That bit of information will put a whole new visual concept on the picture and you too will be able to sprout forth with your new found knowledge and be admired 🙂

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Who said anything about what the artist had for breakfast?

[youcandoityoucandoityoucandoit]

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@gleee58 wrote:

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@poddster wrote:

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@i-need-a-martini wrote:

All of those artists DO need a trained eye to work out what their paintings are about.

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So that they too can 'Understand" what the artist had for breakfast the morning of the day it was finished.

That bit of information will put a whole new visual concept on the picture and you too will be able to sprout forth with your new found knowledge and be admired 🙂

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Who said anything about what the artist had for breakfast?

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Gleee, maybe so they can say 'thats what my 5 year old had for breakfast' 

[opmania]

Art is only as good as its critics
Because a well known critic have given their tick of approval to a piece others jump on the band Wagon even though the average man in the street might think their 5 year old could do a better job.
This is why van gogh struggled his entire life to sell a piece of his work.
And this is why many amazing artists go unnoticed because what they are doing is not in Vogue or critics have not blessed their work or indeed have frowned upon in .
The very nature of art ,, all jonre lays iself open to criticism good bad or otherwise.
It is not for the custodians of the art to critique the admirers.
A pro active parent or whoever will get up one morning and go to the botanic gardens next week they will take their children to the zoo and hello the week after let's go to the art gallery.
You don't need a Batchelor of Arts to visit the gallery
And you don't need to be a fool if you know nothing about art
volunteering at the art gallery does not a critic make
I spent 7 years on the phone raising funds for research but that does not make me a scientist

[youcandoityoucandoityoucandoit]

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@opmania wrote:

I spent 7 years on the phone raising funds for research but that does not make me a scientist

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No, but it does make you knowledgeable about fund raising for research.

In regards to your analogy, I havent read anywhere where martini states that volunteering at an art gallery, and giving talks about the work and exhibitions there to visitors, that that makes her an artist. 

[opmania]

I didn't say it made her an artist what I said was that it did not make her a critic
And the opening thread was asking why if anyone hated abstract art to give thier opinion and it doesn't seem that she wants to accept that many people do.
I didn't really give my opinion on that but now I will .
I love many forms of art including some abstract not all and must agree that when my girl was 5 years old she could do a better job than many I have seen but that's not to say that I would express that sentiment in an art gallery because I would have more respect for the artists represented there.
But you can not bar ignorant people from visiting the gallery perhaps they will be not quite so ignorant after they leave

[Anonymous]

But you can not bar ignorant people from visiting the gallery perhaps they will be not quite so ignorant after they leave.

just like a nurse shouldn't tell people

they can't go to hospital if they're going

to criticise her/his job lol

that would be unprofessional.

[opmania]

Exactly

[pct001wine]

I love Blue Poles (or should I say "No. 11, 1952" )

I first saw it in Adelaide way back when and I distinctly remember being in awe of it - the size, the presence of it, the use of paint, the story behind it.  I saw it many years later in Canberra and nothing had changed, still awesome.

Of course, there was always the derisive "any five-year-old/chimpanzee/blind person" could do it, to which my usual response was "Well go and do it then"

[***super_nova***]

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@janeababe wrote:

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@i-need-a-martini wrote:

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If you go to any gallery and don't do your homework or listen to what is told to you by guides or audios, you may as well go and admire the artwork on the shelves at Ikea.

(not that I have anything against Ikea - I have some pretty pieces that go well against my decor that I don't have to think about too much lol).

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God Martini, you are starting to sound like a right snob!

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Why?  For suggesting that some art is more demanding to understand than pleasing mass produced design, which IKEA sells as a decoration?  Maybe you also think person is a snob if they tried to point out that Sheakespear's Macbeth is rather deeper than some TV soapies. 

But then we could ask ourselves what is good or better art.  For instance I once knew a man who painted technically absolutely amazing paintings of people; they looked alive and you had to look 3x to really believe it is not a photo.  The problem was that they did not look much as the person he painted.  The hair was right, the colour of eyes, but it just did not get the essence of the person.  On the other hand some caricaturists can capture person in few seconds and with only few lines, and if it is somebody we know, we can see the resemblance immediately. 

So, some people do not have the imagination to appreciate abstract art , that is OK, but to denigrate those who do like it, and put down the artists is just rude.