Modern Art - is it all crap?

[pdk42]

I went to the Oslo National Art Museum yesterday. It's an amazing place and well worth the admission price if you're in Oslo. There is an outstanding collection of Munch's work, including the original version of The Scream (Skrik):

• Panasonic - DC-S5
• 35mm F2 DG DN | Contemporary 020
• 35.0 mm
• ƒ/2
• 1/60 sec
• Pattern
• Auto exposure
• 0.3
• ISO 3200

Although my personal favourite of his is "Madonna":

• Panasonic - DC-S5
• 35mm F2 DG DN | Contemporary 020
• 35.0 mm
• ƒ/2
• 1/60 sec
• Pattern
• Auto exposure
• 0.3
• ISO 3200

I was also reminded of the work of Johan Christian Dahl, who is a master of landscapes. I think this in particular is a masterpiece, something for me to aspire to:

• Panasonic - DC-S5
• 35mm F2 DG DN | Contemporary 020
• 35.0 mm
• ƒ/2
• 1/60 sec
• Pattern
• Auto exposure
• ISO 1600

There are also works by Thomas Fearnley, August Cappelen, Harald Sohberg and many others - all of which are superb.



But then you get to the modern art. It really is universally crap (IMHO). As some tasters...

How about this contraption of four pulleys and a wire by the "artist" Viggo Andersen:

• Panasonic - DC-S5
• 35mm F2 DG DN | Contemporary 020
• 35.0 mm
• ƒ/2
• 1/60 sec
• Pattern
• Auto exposure
• ISO 200

and whose description includes:

• Panasonic - DC-S5
• 35mm F2 DG DN | Contemporary 020
• 35.0 mm
• ƒ/2
• 1/60 sec
• Pattern
• Auto exposure
• ISO 250

Why would anyone want to "reduce the subjective or emotive aspect of art"?; or worse to "liberate it from craftmanship and personal expression"? Who are these people?

Then there was a room full of polished metal spheres scattered seemingly at random (no idea why, but we were encouraged to touch them - I guess part of making it "art"?). This is not my image (I really didn't want to waste my memory card write cycles on it):



And then this little effort by Snorre Ytterstad, entitled "Study of the Red Square - Painterly Realism of a Peasant Woman in Two Dimensions". If you can spot a woman of any social class, let me know ! (although I guess we can agree that it's almost a red square - even if the artist clearly lacked a true 90 degree angle to use as a reference):

• Panasonic - DC-S5
• 35mm F2 DG DN | Contemporary 020
• 35.0 mm
• ƒ/2
• 1/60 sec
• Pattern
• Auto exposure
• ISO 320

Is this really all as crap as I think it is? Is there any lasting value in any of it?

 

[xaviergut]

Contemporary art is more about ideas than skills, composition, balance or copying the reality in a canvas...

Marcel Duchamp is guilty of all that. He started all this stuff with his "ready made" pieces.

 

[Pete_W]

Is this really all as crap as I think it is? Is there any lasting value in any of it?

Well, it doesn't do anything for me either!

 

[pdk42]

Contemporary art is more about ideas than skills, composition, balance or copying the reality in a canvas...

Marcel Duchamp is guilty of all that. He started all this stuff with his "ready made" pieces.

But the ideas are worthless too. I mean, which of these two actually provokes any kind of emotional reaction?:

 

[Oíche]

Yes I agree, those particular "modern art" pieces are a pile of shite (can I say that?). I've been debating this topic since school.

If you have to ask WTF is this about it instantly doesn't become art. The explanation is usually some hocus pocus BS and if you don't accept it you are deemed as a non-intellect incapable of such vision.

Damien Hirst the same, this psuedo artistic world is so far up it's own arse. They are successful charlatans. There were guys in my school far better artists.

Same as the best photograph, none of us on a level as them to understand it... It's superiority BS and somewhat akin to an old friend photographing his kitchen chair on magic mushrooms thinking it was a roman metropolis

 

[xaviergut]

But the ideas are worthless too.

those particular "modern art" pieces are a pile of shite

Hahaha

I agree with both. We have reached a point where any occurrence can be considered a work of art. And I know this art world very well. It is a very long topic to develop in a photography forum.

I must say that not 100% is crap. For example and focusing on photography, recently there was a retrospective exhibition of Gregory Crewdson in the Albertina Museum in Vienna that was really excellent:

Gregory Crewdson

www.albertina.at

 

[pdk42]

Hahaha

I agree with both. We have reached a point where any occurrence can be considered a work of art. And I know this art world very well. It is a very long topic to develop in a photography forum.

I must say that not 100% is crap. For example and focusing on photography, recently there was a retrospective exhibition of Gregory Crewdson in the Albertina Museum in Vienna that was really excellent:

Gregory Crewdson

www.albertina.at

Actually, I like that Gregory Crewdson work. Really excellent.

And interestingly, the discussion we're having now in this thread reminded me of something that blew up on Amin Sabet's mu43 forum some years ago:

Somebody Tell Me What I'm Missing With This Photographer's Street Photography

So, I'm not on DPReview anymore, because it's a repetitive, toxic wastehole of a website. But there's something over there that has always puzzled me, and it's one of the members in the Street & Documentary subforum who posts fairly prolifically. Here's one of the latest threads he's posted...

www.mu-43.com

At the time, I really didn't think much of the photographs being discussed (which are still up on the linked DPR page => https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4341714). However, looking at them again now, I can appreciate them some more. They're still not my taste, but I do see some merit in them.

 

[Oíche]

"because this member will blast anyone who dares to suggest his work is anything but legendary, and accuse them of being uncultured swine..."

Sounds like delusional narcissist

Gregory Crewdson is fine, far from that abstracted "art". Maybe good for an album cover.

Even some computer games have nice art, in Sniper Elite 5 I've been killed a few times examining the paintings with my binoculars. It is based in France WWII and the decor is marvellous in 4k on xbox SX with OLED TV. It's surprising the detail they go into.

 

[AlanC]

Modern art?

Last time I went to Castle Howard there was an exhibition of sculptures by Tony Cragg with pieces scattered throughout the grounds. They didn't feature in any of my photos because I thought they were a hideous mismatch to the Baroque period house and grounds, and I missed the chance to see the interior of the Temple of the Four Winds (which isn't normally open) because it was being used to house one of the sculptures that, from the photos in the leaflet I was given, looked to me like an enormous stack of unwashed glassware.

If you're curious, take a look at this piece on Real Yorkshire Blog.

Street photography?

I really like the work of Fan Ho both from the perspective of a historical view of Hong Kong in the 1950s / 1960s and as photographs in their own right, but the majority of what I've seen on DPReview's dedicated forum leaves me cold.

 

[Oíche]

If you're curious, take a look at this piece on Real Yorkshire Blog.

I think he bought those after Stanley Kubrick's 'A Clockwork Orange' film was finished.

Agree, that venue is a mismatch, he should have put them on the sea bed or something.

These arty farty people always seem to have their head up their asses.

Last photo exhibition I visited in Belfast was about the peace walls and it was meh, I've seen so many other photos which did it far better, usually from photo journalism.

 

[Oíche]

World's most expensive photo

 

[The Rigger]

Alright; I guess I'll be the lone voice in the wilderness...

No; it's not all crap.

Not in my opinion, anyway. I may not like a given piece, or I may not understand what the person who created said piece was trying to say with it, but that doesn't make it any less "art."

Look at it this way: "Art" resembles religion. There are many religions, just as there are many artistic visions. The fact that I religion one way and you religion a totally different way doesn't mean either of our totally different forms of worship are "crap," does it? It's just a different way of looking at the world. Like my grandfather once said: "Sonny, be glad we all like different things. Otherwise everybody in the world would be chasing your grandma's ass."

...But that's just the view from where I sit. And in my past I've been known to turn the metaphorical machine guns on the occasional Sacred Cow.

 

[pdk42]

So, some modern art in the news…

Maurizio Cattelan’s duct-taped ‘banana’ artwork estimated to fetch up to US$1.5m at New York auction

The viral artwork, involving a banana stuck to a wall, is once again in the spotlight, as Sotheby’s prepares to auction it for an eye-watering sum

www.theguardian.com

For $1.5m, the “successful” bidder will receive:

… a banana, a roll of duct tape, a certificate of authenticity and instructions on how to install the work.

Tell me this isn’t just nonsense!

 

[Jayneboo]

OMG that can't be real. Will it come with a lifetime supply of bananas?

 

[pdk42]

OMG that can't be real. Will it come with a lifetime supply of bananas?

For $1.5m you'd expect it, but I suspect not.

 

[xaviergut]

Tell me this isn’t just nonsense

It reminds me of the "work of art" by the Cuban "artist" Wilfredo Prieto that was exhibited at the Arco art fair in Madrid and whose price was €20,000:



It's titled "glass half full" (Vaso medio lleno).

 

[Jayneboo]

I just can't cope with the thought of sharing the world with anyone who would pay for such CRAP given there are children starving, or the audacity of the so-called artists - sorry, it may be an age thing.

 

[Jayneboo]

I just can't cope with the thought of sharing the world with anyone who would pay for such CRAP given there are children starving, or the audacity of the so-called artists - sorry, it may be an age thing, but I don't think so, I think it's a good old common sense, don't take me for a Pratt type thing.

 

[pdk42]

I just can't cope with the thought of sharing the world with anyone who would pay for such CRAP given there are children starving, or the audacity of the so-called artists - sorry, it may be an age thing.

That's a very good point Jayne. I think as we get older we get a broader and more philosophical view of life. But I find that I need to separate myself from more and more of what I see; if I really ask awkward questions about what's going on in the world it only depresses me! I think this quote from Pride and Prejudice sums it up for me:

The more I see of the world, the more am I dissatisfied with it; and everyday confirms my belief of the inconsistencies of all human characters, and of the little dependence that can be placed on the appearance of merit or sense.

 

[RuleOfThirds]

Remember two different news items. Onze was about a banana taped to the wall, which got eaten by a tourist.

And one about a piece of art which was suddenly missing in Italy. A used beer can on display was thrown away by the janitor


@pdk42 I totally agree with you