Real Art…Really?

It’s 2015 now and after recent events the world seems a lot more complex … so

I’m heading back to the relative calm of late 2014. Like a lot of people over the

festive break I got myself hooked into various forms social media, reaching

saturation point – bloated with meaningful and quirky distractions offering opinions

on this that and the other, making me feel futile in the ever-expanding and

absorbing world of newsfeeds and interesting information. I was, however, able to

break away from such infectious technology and get back on track, find my

bearings and find some time to make a little bit of artwork, engage in some art

dialogue and do a bit of offline viewing, that is to say look at some art situated in

the real world.

It was early December, when listening to the radio, I heard a series of broadcasts

on Radio 4’s A Point of View by Philosopher Roger Scruton. Someone that I had

not heard of but assumed he must be quite learned and well informed to get such

a slot. He began with the subject of ‘fake art’ and, as I’ve had a number of

conversations with people on the possibility of faking Outsider art, I thought that

this series would be interesting.

His intent from the start was to clear some ground between what he sees as

‘original art’ that is genuine, sincere and truthful, but difficult to achieve, and the

much easier ‘fake art’ that appeals to many critics today.  His ire was directed

towards the slick world of Jeff Koons and Damien Hirst and the art market that

supports them.  Cries of the emperor’s new clothes ensued – easy targets, I

thought, why mention them now?  Ok, they may well represent a particular brand

of slick and successful art that looks like a product rather than anything hand

made  but any real significance either of these two monoliths had in the art world

was decades ago. But this high-end financial world is so alien to me and those I know,

that I cannot think of a single person who

really cares that much about this type of work or what these artists are up to.

The likes of Koons and Hirst are really not that important in the world of art that

I and many other creative people inhabit.

Sure they are incredibly wealthy and even if there is some truth in his argument, they are old news.

He may have a case when it comes to being critical of the Turner prize

but it is one competion and if its full of fakery, then it is no more  so than the decorative art that adorns

the walls so many Artists Societies Summer Exhibitions,year after year after year.

Its would be easy enough to say such work is a middle class enclave ,often banal or twee and so predictable,

but hey a lot of people get a lot of pleasure out of such events.

Next Scruton, in a sweeping gesture, guns for the faceless bureaucrats of the

Arts Council who, he implies, fund only that which is unpopular with the public

and is therefore arcane, excruciating and meaningless. I find this both insulting

and a little disturbing as the Arts Council also funds a number of arts projects for

historically marginalised communities who would remain hidden without their

support.  I have personally been involved in a number of projects, including

Transient Grafitti, an animation created by Deaf Adults With Additional Needs,

which was projected onto the face of Bath Abbey with additional artwork

displayed inside Baths 44AD Gallery. A bringing together various organisations

including Action On Hearing Loss and Suited and Booted Studios CLC, this

project provided opportunities for a range of creative people to work with each

other, developing ideas; going out into the community; being taken seriously;

making it happen and showing it to the public who loved it.

Here is a link to the animation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOl5YQ-HLic

This would never have

happened without their support. It does make me wonder what such an

apparently erudite and influential thinker makes of  the art made by marginlised and hidden communities.   Who knows?

Despite listening to all three broadcasts I never get to find out.

They are still available on the BBC I player  via http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/pov for your listening

He does mention in his final broadcast that ‘real art’ (as opposed to ‘fake art’) has to have lasting

appeal with three essential factors:  beauty, form and redemption. I do not

dispute the value of such qualities but they are not the only ingredients that make

art real, tangible and meaningful. In the end I found his views quite narrow and

patronising, the all-knowing expert dispensing his wisdom to the great unwashed

telling us what real art is …really?


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