"Marla, the elephants, and perhaps even your own brilliant progeny may be terrific painters—but they're not artists. This is because art is not just about making things or slapping pigment on canvas; it's also a way of thinking and seeing. Marla and the elephants are primitives, not prodigies. With no understanding of the issues at stake, there's little chance that their work will push art in any meaningful new direction."
Check out this article on Slate about child "prodigies", painting cats and elephants & assorted silliness that seems to dominate mainstream art reporting. I swear, I've yet to see an article or feature outside of newspapers that dealt with painting outside of the classic, "I can't believe that unlikely creature could make art! Gorsh!"
1 comment:
Artistic integrity doesn't always result in recognition and sales... however, gimmicks fare much better in today's "gosh-dang! did ya see that?" media spectacle publicity machine. Anomaly beats ingenuity, apparently.
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