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Kharmine · 03-07-2007, 04:52 AM

My graduate school was at a small, very independent, liberal arts university where Poseur 101 was a kind of free-floating instruction.

From that experience I came to 2 conclusions:

1. Lacking enough background, intellect or just plain words, some aspiring artists will retreat behind attitude when anything even close to a challenge comes up.

Relying on impressively meaningless phrases to put the questioner in his/her place is a great way to avoid looking like you're having to defend your "concept."

At this point, you will hear phrases such as:

"The viewer/reader/listener determines the meaning." (Which certainly takes the burden of making any kind of POINT off the artist.)

"Everything is art!" (This includes an old, bare mattress placed against a wall in a gallery, flipping a light switch off and on in an empty room, and writing stream-of-consciousness "poetry" in which none of the words connect. These are all true examples of things recently called "art.")

"Art can't be judged!" (Nobody ever talked about all those "juried" shows at which art is, in fact, judged. It's just so middle class to talk about awards and the real point of those awards -- money.)

2. You know that an artist has made it when he/she can talk about (never "explain," that's so -- middle class) his/her "work" in terms that sound like a cross between psychoanalysis and Sanskrit.

But he's really just doing the same thing -- using impressively meaningless phrases to avoid anything like a defense of his "concept."

03-07-2007, 04:52 AM	#11 (permalink)
Kharmine V.I.P. Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Foot of the Rocky Mountains Posts: 1,248	My graduate school was at a small, very independent, liberal arts university where Poseur 101 was a kind of free-floating instruction. From that experience I came to 2 conclusions: 1. Lacking enough background, intellect or just plain words, some aspiring artists will retreat behind attitude when anything even close to a challenge comes up. Relying on impressively meaningless phrases to put the questioner in his/her place is a great way to avoid looking like you're having to defend your "concept." At this point, you will hear phrases such as: "The viewer/reader/listener determines the meaning." (Which certainly takes the burden of making any kind of POINT off the artist.) "Everything is art!" (This includes an old, bare mattress placed against a wall in a gallery, flipping a light switch off and on in an empty room, and writing stream-of-consciousness "poetry" in which none of the words connect. These are all true examples of things recently called "art.") "Art can't be judged!" (Nobody ever talked about all those "juried" shows at which art is, in fact, judged. It's just so middle class to talk about awards and the real point of those awards -- money.) 2. You know that an artist has made it when he/she can talk about (never "explain," that's so -- middle class) his/her "work" in terms that sound like a cross between psychoanalysis and Sanskrit. But he's really just doing the same thing -- using impressively meaningless phrases to avoid anything like a defense of his "concept." __________________ What if the hokey pokey is really what it's all about?