Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Beavis and Butthead

It's been ages since I last posted here.  Thoughts and ideas were either fleeting or I deemed them too offensive for publication.  But then, I began thinking about modern contemporary art and realized that there is nothing I could possibly write about that would, in any way, be overly offensive to anyone.  Well, maybe not everyone, but then , someone, a few, most, might be offended by something.

There are a couple of things that offend me artistically - I don't necessarily want to be reminded of anything that I might need to flush down a toilet and I don't like the flip side of that either - cutesy little teddy bear/ bunny rabbit paintings or anything depicting cute little baby animals that may make me do something that would need to be flushed down a toilet.  Oh, and then there's most, but not all, video art and most, but not all, performance art, and any, but not all, things that I would consider to be in the category of what I will call, "pseudo art".  "Pseudo art" is anything called art that is being made by people who shouldn't be called artists.  Pseudo art is gimmickry and gimmickry is a product of charlatans.

To me, visual art can be defined as anything made by humans that has absolutely no practical use, but has an inexplicable intrinsic aesthetic value.  If some "value" can't be placed on it, it doesn't deserve to be called art.  The value of art shouldn't need to be rationalized - it either has artistic value or it doesn't.  Once a piece of art is created, the artist should basically shut up and move on to the creation of the next piece.  If the artwork's creation is duly inspired, the viewer will place value on it.  Doesn't matter if it's beautiful or ugly, dark or light, representational or abstract, as long as it realizes the conscious or subconscious vision of the artist.

Oh yeah, "Beavis and Butthead" is just a title - an ironical reference - possibly a gimmick to peak the curiosity of those who are otherwise not curious about art.

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