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Philistine
Jan. 19th, 2008 09:47 pmThe Tate Modern was in some respects an interesting experience. The crack in the front hall was an impressively large scale installation, and afforded a bit of idle speculation as to how it was achieved without removing the entire concrete floor. It was also fun to see how far down it I could stick my legs, and it had amusing signs warning people not to fall into it.
The young and pretentiously arty crowd who inevitably hang out there pretty soon got on my nerves, though I got some small pleasure from beret-spotting, and collecting looks of disgust and disdain when I loudly announced supposed masterpieces to be shite. As Tim said, there were so many skinny-fit jeans in there that after a while his legs hurt.
Most of these artworks left me completely cold. A few of them were interesting, like the video of leafcutter ants carrying brightly coloured pieces of paper and "Pavilion suspended in a room" (lovely light and shadow effects), and a couple were pretty enough that I'd have them in my own home, but on the whole, I didn't really get the point.
Thinking about this as I left, I was trying to work out why the whole experience seemed so empty. Noone really defines art, but I guess I'd start with "a painting or sculpture that makes you see the world in a different way or that raises strong emotions". I find that my perspective on the world changes many times a day, but that it is usually things I discover by myself or that come to my attention by accident that make me re-evaluate things. It is these small things that I find or notice that cause me to feel powerful emotions.
I don't seem to have room for art in my world, and I half wonder what I'm missing out on. But I'll take a forest or a beach or a moor over an art gallery any day. I find far more meaning and beauty there. Is this the key? Am I wrongly expecting that art should be beautiful and uplifting? But what is the point if it is not?
According to Wikipedia, a philistine is a person "said to despise or undervalue art, beauty, intellectual content, and/or spiritual values." I certainly appreciate beauty and intellectual thought, and I think I'm quite a spiritual person, but art has yet to make its mark on me. I suppose I'm a philistine...
The young and pretentiously arty crowd who inevitably hang out there pretty soon got on my nerves, though I got some small pleasure from beret-spotting, and collecting looks of disgust and disdain when I loudly announced supposed masterpieces to be shite. As Tim said, there were so many skinny-fit jeans in there that after a while his legs hurt.
Most of these artworks left me completely cold. A few of them were interesting, like the video of leafcutter ants carrying brightly coloured pieces of paper and "Pavilion suspended in a room" (lovely light and shadow effects), and a couple were pretty enough that I'd have them in my own home, but on the whole, I didn't really get the point.
Thinking about this as I left, I was trying to work out why the whole experience seemed so empty. Noone really defines art, but I guess I'd start with "a painting or sculpture that makes you see the world in a different way or that raises strong emotions". I find that my perspective on the world changes many times a day, but that it is usually things I discover by myself or that come to my attention by accident that make me re-evaluate things. It is these small things that I find or notice that cause me to feel powerful emotions.
I don't seem to have room for art in my world, and I half wonder what I'm missing out on. But I'll take a forest or a beach or a moor over an art gallery any day. I find far more meaning and beauty there. Is this the key? Am I wrongly expecting that art should be beautiful and uplifting? But what is the point if it is not?
According to Wikipedia, a philistine is a person "said to despise or undervalue art, beauty, intellectual content, and/or spiritual values." I certainly appreciate beauty and intellectual thought, and I think I'm quite a spiritual person, but art has yet to make its mark on me. I suppose I'm a philistine...
