This is a post that I think a lot of my peers would be interested in and would relate to – and I mean my peers specifically as the people who write and draw and are creatively inclined.
Even more specifically the ones who are not part of the Literati or trying to break into high-art circles.
We are the people who tell stories and create images we’d love to hear/see ourselves and would enjoy telling/showing, the ones who want to create something pleasing not just to ourselves but to others as well – wanting the relationship between creator and audience to be more organic and less vague.
I suppose it’s a bit of a rant but every time I see something like this I get annoyed a tad.
THIS is an old article, from 2012, which is basically about this painting here and the fact that it sold for a record breaking 23.5 MILLION Pound Sterling (or $35,000,000+ by todays exchange rate if that helps!) so one can only assume that between then and today it’s gotten even more valuable.
All I’ll say is that as someone speaking on behalf of comic fans and fans of comic art and the artists who create them – screw you pretentious art community.
We collect things that speak to us, the art both pre-made and personally commissioned from artists – original pieces, original pages from the books themselves and the like. But we are derided, we are treated like fools or chided by both the “arty farty” community and by non arty, non comic fans alike.
Well to me the fact that you all would go gaga and try and tell me what a magnificent work of art this is and why it was worth that kind of money (doubts I hold about a great deal of what the art community drools and “oohs and aahs” over like horny teenagers at their first dirty movie) and the kind of pretentious praise heaped on them – all I can say is, “Wow you really are morons because that really does suck!”
Simplistic? Yes.
But then it has to be because I can’t say anything more about such a thing. Sorry for the disrespect to the artist, I can’t speak for the intention and such and artist to artist I say everyone should try and express themselves but looking at that painting all I an think of is how is “art” like that not already kindling? It looks like crap and any “intellectual” heavy-handedness added to it – well rationalise all you want but to me these are cases of calling a spade a spade and calling a piece of crap a piece of crap.
Even Picasso painted a lot of crap. Sure, he had a few paintings that really were worth praising and studying. But like EVERY artist in EVERY medium, he had some that were deep pieces that he did from the heart, some that were half-assed because all artists have a quirkiness to them at some level and even some that were just done to cash in – and to make a few extra bucks from the fools who will gush over every turd that drops from a pair of famous cheeks and then keep praising it for years and years because no one can bring themselves to admit they wasted their money and got crapped on.
Maybe I’m not artistic enough. Maybe I don’t have soul or enough heart to see what’s in most such art. I don’t know. But I’m quite happy with my view on the world and in my own way, quite alright that I don’t get it – because I don’t think too highly of the people I’ve met who do seem to get it.
It’s a situation where I’m willingly and indeed happily consigning myself to ignorance.
Okay… Monday morning rant over.
Will be back with something more entertaining in a day or so, got a new horror story in the works I hope to finish.
Cheers all!
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