art will eat itself

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Permalink Reply by Paul matosic on March 12, 2008 at 14:15

I think I see what you are getting at.
The idea of the ready made is a seemingly easy option and is often used as a quick fix.
Many artists might go for this option without really considering the wider implications.
All ready made art, and by this I am assuming the single object, can only be seen in the light of what has gone before, ie: Marcel Duchamp. I doubt if any of the artists exploring the notion of the 'ready made' think that they can outdo this work, maybe they do, perhaps they are not aware of his work in which case there is something lacking in their (art) education.
However one reason why artists might choose this option is
the shortage of space within the art colleges and indeed the lack of secure studio space in many towns.
Students and artists have had to look at other ways of making art that do not require the time intensive labour of love that the traditional art making processes might involve.

Permalink Reply by mike hinc on March 12, 2008 at 14:23

Art will eat itself? Pop did.

Permalink Reply by Nicholas Wright on March 13, 2008 at 9:24

Exactly mike you know exactly where the referance to pop culture comes from.
I am concerned about the implications of some artists moving away from the crafted nature that some artistic skills have. This is not to say they are higher (im not trying to be a snob in any way here) I am simply interested in the comparison to be made between the "ready made" in some context and say in a musical context "the computer sample" some music has come out of the other side of this of this revolution but much of POP music as you might call it is stuck in the same "loop" excuse the pun. I see alot of art that seems to be the same people just sticking the visual version of a recorded loop from the DADA era in their work. This for me only referances one thing alot of the time a lack of any real thought about WHY they are using an object.

Permalink Reply by Nicholas Wright on March 13, 2008 at 9:30

Hmmm yes well it is one thing to say that people are using Duchamps work without realising who he was and how influencial his career became (for some artists.) Personally he only influences me through osmosis, as i am forced to talk about him! !t is quite another to say that lack of space in art colleges has led to art being made in a different way, lack of space has nothing to do with it, their is always space if you bother to look(any of the walls in every university department is a good example)
Anyway think about it this way im not saying you can't use ready mades at all im just interested in the artist maybe tranforming the object and bending it to there will in a far more illusionistic manner.

Permalink Reply by Nicholas Wright on March 13, 2008 at 9:32

here we are.

Attachments:

• ass.jpg, 14 KB

Permalink Reply by mike hinc on March 13, 2008 at 9:34

I excuse your pun and I think the analogy a good one but what is happening to the music industry is, I suspect, terminal and what will emerge from it will not be an industry. See Alan McGee's MySpace blogs if you want to fiddle in the burning and map this decline. He is pretty spot on. You say "I see alot of art that seems to be the same people just sticking the visual version of a recorded loop from the DADA era in their work." Is this the same stuff I look at and think "looks just like art" and walk away - quite bored?

Permalink Reply by Nicholas Wright on March 13, 2008 at 9:34

i might try and correct my spellings later by the way people.......
then againmaybe not.

Permalink Reply by mike hinc on March 13, 2008 at 9:39

That's my toilet!!! Where did you get that photo? Can I have back? I never knew it was art!!! Will you pay me for using it? What's the royalty rate? ETCETERA !!!!

Permalink Reply by Michael Bowdidge on March 15, 2008 at 14:15

Is it the use of 'found objects' per se that you find problematic or just artists who use them without 'doing' something to them?

Permalink Reply by Nicholas Wright on March 16, 2008 at 12:57

neither really mike its not one of those I hate concepts. I am simply worried that their are far to many people who just seem to use it as an excuse instead of thinking around the subject a bit more. I am not even saying that its not a valued form to use found objects just that it seems that a shift towards them almost being the accepted as the norm is actually stunting the further development of alot of early stage artists careers. Here is another point when people like Duchamp were using these ready mades for a very specific point after the war they were saying WHAT IS THE POINT IN ART. it is worthless it does nothing to bring back all the people that were lost and it is simply another commodity, which no one could afford because of a massive recession. Now here is the question so many conceptualist seem to hate it when i say this but how can they say they are cutting edge when they are just recyling ideas from dada which is historical now not contemporary.

Permalink Reply by Paul matosic on March 16, 2008 at 13:20

Just to pick up on a few points raised in this discussion so far.
Yes Nick I think you are correct in identifying the wider social economic context that engendered the arrival at Dada and the Ready made, and yes much of what has happened since is often a recycling of these ideas. I would like to think that there is a new context for using "found objects" now with more emphasis on the environmental benefits of this course of action not to mention the 'anti consumerist' commentary that recycling engenders.
However to pick up on your comment Mike H about stuff 'resembling art' I too have seen far too much of this stuff be it painting sculpture or assemblage that does indeed have many of the qualities of being art without actually engaging with any critical, contextural or internal dialogue. If the stuff don't ask questions then in my opinion it is nothing more than decoration. why it might even match the curtains!

Permalink Reply by Nicholas Wright on March 16, 2008 at 17:21

i can agree with that, I am constantly interested in engaging in creating something that not only matches the curtains but makes you think as well.

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