I've been giving some thought to the business of art this
week.
Last weekend I went to a meeting at Logan Art Gallery, which
was supposed to be about how to fill in the forms if you want to get a
grant. The kind of grant that I was
interested in was the kind of grant that you get for being an overweight Pommy
tonal realist painter that wants to paint realism in a tonal manner. Unfortunately they didn't have that kind
available. What they had was the kind of
grant that you get for being good at marketing your ‘I’m so ‘’out there….me!” version
of what constitutes innovative ‘Art’ in our barmy version of society.
The woman up the front kept saying that the grants were for ‘contemporary
artists’, and I asked her after the presentation, what that meant. She said ‘practicing’, so….wondering why she didn't just say ‘practicing’, I went off to practice. In fact, what she almost inevitably means is an
artist that follows one of the multitude of abstract approaches. The funny thing is that when challenged, I
find that most abstract painters and more of their supporters, will tell you
that you need to be broader minded. Why
then, is it that those who fund the arts are unable to be broad minded enough
to view realist painting as ‘contemporary’ when it’s been executed recently by
a living artist? Why is it that museums
exhibit and rave about realism that was executed by someone that’s long dead,
preferably before 1930, but can’t accept it from the artist that is ‘practising’
today?
And the bull that so many of these supporters use to
describe their chosen subset of this artistic blip in the history of art is
more creative than the art itself!
Consider this one, from a movement called 'Toyism':
Dejo, The Freakshow . Acrylic on canvas, 100 x 150
cm.
I discovered Toyism by chance, and I immediately
loved the way the images communicate some of the most difficult themes in a
very bright way. "Everything" can be conceptualized and become a
subject for Toyists representations, where slices of everyone’s lives can be
perceived and recognized. The themes become toys that are brought to life in
order to play an active role themselves.
On February 24th, the Toyism art movement was
first introduced to the Dutch public. As a figurative style, Toyism originates
from an impulse for innovation and as a reaction to the age of the Ego. The
exciting play of smooth lines with sharp boundaries, dots and the power of
bright contrasting colours, gives the paintings an extremely vivacious
character. Existing Toyism philosophies can be retraced in each piece-
translated into clear, direct image. The world of the Toyists consists of
fragments and moments; their work is often anecdotal but at the same time
wilful and rich in fantasy. It is a recognisable world, which nevertheless
contains the bizarre within. In Toyism the story line is essential.
Every
Toyist portrays his own unique story and by doing so adds a new dimension to
Toyism. After the manifesto was rewritten in October 2002, the movement became
more accessible to fresh, young artists. (1) Toyist artworks need a high
quality standard, and the Manifesto draws the artists together in making it a
Movement.
...and that's just a small excerpt! Ahh f**k it! I give up!
