So whats
the future of art? Its hard to imagine anything new
on the horizon. I guess we could have robots that make art.
Well the future
is now at Rose Art in Boston as it hosts a show this month
by New York artist Roxy Paine featuring machines that paint
pictures. Lets face it, with the plethora of art and
artists in the second half of the twentieth century,
the only novel thing would be for groups of artists to start
producing similar work. The art movements of a hundred years
ago are so
alien. (To stick to our future theme) Nothing
exists today like Cubism. The thought of so many people working
in such a regimented style and following a set of arbitrary
rules is unthinkable in the Postmodern era. Everyone just
goes about doing his own thing.
Theres
so much art being produced today and no standards by which
to judge its quality. In Birmingham recently there was an
art show by blind children. Imagine a future with recitals
by the deaf or dances by quadriplegics. The future might be
a time when anyone, despite talent or ability, is eligible
to be a concert pianist or ballerina. There are 180 Graduate
programs in America cranking out artists by the truckload.
This is in addition to almost 13,000 undergraduate degree
earned in art each year. Are they all qualified to be professionals?
The only job opportunity for these alumnae is to turn right
back around and vie for a teaching position in one of the
art schools. Its well known that these schools arent
teaching job skills. You cant teach art today because
the students are almost certainly to be producing a kind of
art thoroughly different than their professors. Good art is
supposed to have some sort of philosophical lesson. Like the
art of ancient Greece and the Renaissance, it should introduce
us to heavy cosmic concepts. Unfortunately our society is
too busy forgetting the lessons of the past and returning
to religiosity and superstition to produce great ideas. Im
sure a few of the millions of works of art produced in the
US each year deal with new philosophical concepts like Qualia
and the philosophies of science, but most are rehashing left-wing
politics from the 60s. But beyond this art can actually
serve a function.
The function
of art is communication. Illustrations in magazines, on posters
and on CD covers tell stories just like the words beside them.
Often art is purely decorative, communicating beauty. Alexandra
Kruglyaks paintings, currently on display at NorDys
are certainly beautiful. The show "new masterpieces"
is predominantly still-lives with fruit and flowers masterfully
painted by this Ukrainian born local artist. Kruglyak ended
up in Alabama after stumbling upon the address of her current
husband in a garbage can. This spawned a series of correspondences
that resulted in marriage. Be sure to go by NorDys to see
what a formal training, mostly unavailable in the US, can
produce.
Across the
pond in Basel Switzerland a show touted as the best in the
world is just wrapping up. Art 33 Basel might be a sign of
things to come. Held in a convention center as opposed to
a Museum, Art 33 Basel is more a trade show than an art exhibit.
This sort of thing is getting more and more common. On entering
the show the first thing you see is California artist Skip
Arnold laying naked facedown in a pile of sand. This sort
of thing is also getting more and more common. The fun part
is that the patrons are invited to walk right over him. The
fact that this sort of thing is starting to get tired and
old-fashioned says a lot about todays Artworld. One
of Carol Boves contributions to the show is a stack
of books. The books that are stacked are Kahlil Gibrans
"The Prophet" and the work is entitled "Tower
of the Prophet." This is also a pretty tired and old-fashioned
idea. Stacks of books presented as art is as old as piles
of rocks in galleries. Thanks to the London School the figure
has come back strong in recent years, but in a crazy cartoony
way. Now we can see lots of giant dolls and statues of monsters.
Possibly the most interesting figurative work in Art 33 Basel
was "LHospice" by Gilles Barbier. This sculpture
consists of life-size superheroes. But not just regular superheroes
old
superheroes. You got Superman using a walker and a decrepit
Catwoman collapsed in an easychair. Theres even an exhausted
old Mr. Fantastic with his elastic arms and legs all sore
and his hair thin and balding.
So
is this the future of art? Not really, its just more
Pop art. And remember Pop wasnt even considered original,
the French called it Neo-Dada. The way I see it, everyones
going to keep doing his own thing unless something dramatic
happens. Eventually something dramatic always happens. Most
people understand Abstract art these days and many are becoming
more comfortable with Conceptual art. Since Conceptual art
can consist of literally anything theres no way to have
a new movement while it remains the dominant style. Art movements
have to have some unity, even if that unity is the complete
diversity we have now. The only way art can move forward is
for a group of artists to start working in the same style.
It would have to be a style with some dynamic new political
or philosophic worldview behind it. The most impressive art
being produced today are the large figurative paintings by
artists like Bo
Bartlett , Steven
Assael and Terry
Rodgers.
But once again this is hard too do and only a handful of the
millions of artists today can produce this quality of work
and fewer are willing to try. Hopefully the future of art
will be realized in this direction. Profound narrative paintings,
masterly executed, have always been what constituted great
art. As more people come to understand conceptual art they
will realize a lot of its just goofy and pretentious.
I cant see a sincere and powerful tradition arising
from the Artworld as it exists today. The public will have
to become more discriminating or accept that everything is
art and thus the term itself is meaningless. If we realize
that were all Conceptual artists and when we make breakfast
were actually creating art well start demanding
that our Cornflakes belong in the Museum too. Once the system
becomes transparent maybe the cream will rise to the top.