The number of "Untitled" works was infinitely frustrating. Why should the viewer spend time with your piece if you don't give anything back? If you are going to line up some objects against a wall that have no apparent similarities or interactions the honest viewer will walk right by and lose interest. The dishonest viewer will tell their friends they love it, and refuse to give any reasons-- saying things like "isn't it obvious?" or "well clearly you just don't get it".
Maybe I just don't get it.
Don't get me wrong, there were pieces I really liked and enjoyed, but I feel, for whatever reason, that I need to challenge and discuss things that bother me about "the art world", if only to selfishly work through my own feelings about it. However, as I discussed previously, I feel there is a lack of honesty or forthrightness that is troubling in our contemporary art society. It frustrates and alienates "the average (interested) viewer" and as someone who views art as a form of communication, I find it appalling.
On a brighter note: here are some contemporary works I like and think work successfully around these complaints. They're the ones, in my opinion, who do it right.
Isabella Rossellini
(thanks, PBS)
Alfredo Jaar
Also check out the "Lights in the City" project from 1999 under Recent Projects
(thanks again, PBS)
Laylah Ali
Read her profile at Art21.
It's hard for me to find contemporary art move me the way classical art moves me. There is something about this subculture of artists these days that focus too much on individuality and obscurity and not enough about connecting their work with the "general" audience.
ReplyDeleteAlso, thank you. I have been trying to figure out the name of "Green Porno" for a good month. I had forgotten Isabella Rossellini's name and was desperately trying to find the series. <3
P.S. This is your Sasquatch-loving friend from Michigan.