Chapter 2 -Simply bananas

(or the 'modern confusion' in art)

      Originally, this string will have come in the shape of a neat sphere or perhaps a machine wound cylinder of pristine ready-to-use product with as many uses as you can imagine. But now it is in a tangle – a 'confusion' of string that's not really fit for any kind of purpose. 

Here is the important bit - the string is still all there! Just as it was when it was bought, but currently each section is being strangled by the piece next to it.

     If this was my string, I wouldn't rest until I'd untangled it - until I'd removed the 'confusion' and put it back the way it should be... all neat and in good working order.

     Whilst writing, it occurs to me that this scenario can be applied to so many aspects of our life. Do we discard a relationship that once brought us so much happiness just because it went wrong, do we invest time in attempting to get it back to the way it was, or do we just put up with it, with miserable resignation? 

From arguments to fist fights to full blooded wars the same applies, a perfect and well-meaning point is miss-understood and in putting forward an ineffective counter argument a tangle begins, develops, and accelerates into passionate distress - often with disastrous, and tragic effect. You may have personal experience of such a disorder – a 'confused tangle'. 

Anyway, I digress, when it comes to art, we have been born at a time where judgement criteria are obscure because of the tangle that first began in the nineteenth century; a 'modern confusion'.

In a way, it's like someone has parachuted us into a strange place where people speak several different languages - none of which we understand. And it's been left up to us to make sense of it all. The clues are all there, but we do need to do a bit of scratching around if we are to find them.

What we do know is that artistic endeavour appears to be sponsored  by our innate survival habits and practices, exercising our problem-solving advantage.

So at least we know where the end of the string is! We can use this to help start unravelling it, thus revealing a comprehension that has been obscure for so long.

Complications in art, particularly in painting, first arose about 150 years ago - when 'baby confusion' took its first steps. At this time when, partly motivated by the the development of photography, artists slowly began to respond to the challenge set by this new art form. An art form that was developing rapidly and one which some labelled "painting by nature".

Cameras without film!

     Photography needs three essential components for it to thrive: a camera, a way of capturing the image and a crafty, creative person to come up with new and valuable ideas. But they didn't all come along together. Artists had used cameras for years but in different ways. Cameras - in various forms - helped them with form and perspective, but they were still unable to capture the image (a photograph*) on a light sensitive surface because the film had not yet been invented!

However, in 1827, that breakthrough took place and suddenly photography was born. A 'hallelujah' moment.

During the following years photography leapt forward as improved systems and processes were discovered; the first colour photograph being produced in 1861 (bet you didn't know that!). This must have given artists of the day something to seriously think about. In some ways the camera could produce images more technically correct than the artist seeking realism.

Photography's advent redefined realism, taking the high ground and pushing art towards abstraction, or 'distorted reality'. This still applies today and I personally choose to separate  art into only two basic categories, realism and distorted reality.

Photograph. – From the Greek 'photos' meaning light – 'graphe' meaning drawing or writing. So, Drawing with light.

Camera - Latin, meaning 'room'.

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     During the mid-nineteenth century a response to 'painting by nature' (photography) was formed by artists and it developed rapidly through the emergence of new creative thought and experimentation. Artists began to express themselves in ways that not only embraced new techniques - mainly exaggerated colours and brushwork - but they produced paintings that were inspirational to other artists - creating a 'snowball' effect.

The claim was that this new way of painting captured not only the image but the atmosphere, or mood; something that photography could not do (how do you like that Mr Photography?). Well, it was better than just packing up their kit and looking for another job!

At that point, some artists no doubt, will have found great excitement in discovering a new way to express themselves, thus qualifying their work for avant guard* status; always with the possibility that 'moving with the times' might in turn, enhance their reputation – a big factor in achieving success as an artist.

* French - Leading edge.

But, whilst some were excited about the new and leapt on the bandwagon, others, traditionalists, stuck with the more familiar realism.

Impressionism was the first, and probably the most successful movement – or *genre - to split away from realism (even today, Impressionism is one of the most popular styles of art) but up until then, realism had ruled for centuries. Art had therefore been comparatively easy to understand and judge with all artists seeking a realistic result.

Realism had been sub-divided into several themed categories, or genres which included: landscapes, portraits, still life, hunting scenes, tavern scenes, family scenes, religious, moral, philosophical Etc. Etc. but all were realistic.

However, this was all about to change, and the result compounded the problem of understanding what art actually was.

The new and different ways artists were presenting to the art world dictated that 'creativity' was now firmly in the frame, and that being the case, there was almost an obligation on individual artists to, at least, attempt to find a new and creative way of expressing themselves. This they would do by taking their lead from those with growing reputations for innovation whose bold venture into distorted reality had by this time gained acceptance and respectability through familiarisation and propinquity.

By the start of the twentieth century the proliferation of new creative forms of art began progressing at apace, catering for even the most extreme, and even bizarre, proposals of work submitted under the guise of art. New styles, or genres, popped up like mushrooms.

And, as the twentieth century progressed the birth of each new interpretation only served to compound the confusion in the mind of the art lover.

How do you compare and judge with such a melting pot of new and traditional art?

Today, art genres include, but are not limited to, Realism, Impressionism, pointillism, expressionism, surrealism, pop art, abstract, cubism, modernism, - (and as John Lennon said "ism ism"). They all served to complicate the issue adding to the 'modern confusion' surrounding art and making it almost impossible to answer the questions "what is art" and "how do we judge it"?

How, for instance, can you judge a painting executed in traditional realism with a pile of junk – literally junk - standing in a room in The Tate Modern?

One simple coping mechanism is not to think too deeply, or even attempt to understand it, but instead, believe what you are told and embrace everything put in front of you as art; It's art but you don't quite understand it!

This way you can enjoy it all, like a kid in a candy store… even the sugar rush of blissful ignorance.

But I suspect that is not enough to satisfy those who dig for truth with a determined spade.

*Genre - a class or category of artistic endeavour having a particular form, content, technique or the like.

In 'The Facts Of Art' I have tried to keep my quotations and analysis of work limited to only that which serves to unpeal the layers of myth and mystery built up over many years, and which surrounds art today.

I have also chosen to say as little about individual artists as possible so that we can concentrate instead on what they have done rather than who they are; not even showing the results of their efforts, just descriptions.

Now, consider these examples:

a. After studying art (photography) for two years, Artist 'a' became a drug user and a drug dealer for a good number of years.

Then, partly funded by the government, he returned to his photography.

Some years later, he made a hollow cross from plastic, filled it with cow's blood, and photographed it.

At the time it was considered a bit outrageous and so received some recognition. However, two years later he hit the jackpot when he placed a cheap, plastic statue of Christ being crucified in a glass tank, filled the tank with his urine and then photographed it. He called it Piss Christ and soon he was both famous and infamous - both respected and despised.

But in gaining notoriety he became recognised by many as a true creative artist.

b. Artist 'b' created a piece which was nothing more than a banana stuck to a wall using duct tape. In fact, he did it three times. The first one sold for $120,000. The second for a similar sum and the third is expected to fetch in excess of $150,000.

c. In 1917, Artist 'c', in an attempt to ridicule the concept of art, took a gentleman's urinal straight from the store, lay it on its back, wrote a silly name on it and then entered it into an art exhibition where it stole the show. It received great acclaim and became a reference piece for over a hundred years.

He made several copies one of which - created in 1964 - recently sold for $1.8M. He called this activity "ready-made art".

d. Artist 'd' took a cardboard box which was used to deliver product into shops and copied it using wood and silkscreening. He even employed somebody to reproduce them for him. After forty years the original copy sold for three million dollars.

e. Husband and wife Artists 'e' wrapped a 2.5 kilometres section of coastline in fabric and rope - one million square feet in all. The work was hailed as a great success and reference to it is now taught in the school certificate in Australia.

f. Artist 'f' was so disgusted that his wife's work was totally ignored in an art competition, that the following year he entered his own painting: a blank canvas with a small, solitary dot in the middle entitled 'The Brain of a Politician'. It won first prize. But when asked to attend a celebration of the event and talk about his work, he couldn't resist the opportunity of telling the truth and letting the judges have both barrels.

So, how do we feel about these artists and their achievements? How do they stack up when we ask ourselves questions like:

Whichever way, I personally believe their success was only made possible by people 'losing the plot'.

Certainly, the eloquence and talents of the erudite art critic can always find ways to describe any of these works in such a way as to make a compelling case for the artist's creative ability (if he/she so wishes).

But that does not say even they actually understand the piece, art itself or even their own motives in offering a positive well-worded conclusive appraisal.

They probably boarded the coach at Dover and have little interest in Rome, yet, at the same time, are very gifted at 'discovering' their own imagined, positive qualities.

Some years ago, a member of the public, whilst walking around an art exhibition in Japan, left his spectacles on a radiator. It only came to light when staff noticed members of the public standing examining the display believing it to be an exhibit. They were absolute victims of the 'modern confusion'.

At another exhibition an artist's work did not arrive but its wooden plinth was accidentally displayed on its own and won a prize. Modern confusion?

So clearly, this tells us that art has now reached the point where many people (probably most people) are totally confused as to what actually constitutes a work of art. What art is and what it is not; especially when 'experts' are constantly promoting the case or fighting the cause of works that may not be deserving the acclaim they receive.

Fact – Today, millions of people worldwide struggle to comprehend what actually constitutes a work of art.

Fact – many people are simply baffled by art.

End of chapter 2