Big Sue Naked! Yuk!
In starkers contrast to Olga and Carla (below) here is "Big Sue" Tilley in training for the Couch Potato of the Year Award in 1995, captured by the trembling hand of Lucian Freud. Only a myopic hippopotamus could find Benefits Supervisor Sleeping aesthetically pleasing, but Christie's is hoping for big bucks when this monstrosity comes up for auction in New York. Rich myopic Yankee hippos take note. For British hippos, this obscene travesty of art is on show in London today, Monday and Tuesday, before the big heave-ho to the Big Apple. I'd rather see a giant banana over Texas, thanks very much (CLICK).
posted by Unknown @ 11.4.08
6 comments
6 Comments:
Time out for Jenny Saville! (my alternative title)
Actually this is a symbol of the present art world - so it's title can also be something like Art Fair and Art Fowl (Foul).
It's all about the paint Ian. The man is a genius. Who cares what the subject matter is, just admire the paint ;-)
A little 300 pixel wide image wont show the value of the paint much, but I bet it's impressive in real life.
Dion
Hi, Cap
She's one big bird for a fowl! Imagine the egg she could lay!
The really scary thing is this is what the Brit. female looks like nowadays. They're following the US trend. I was surprised to discover that "Big Sue" is still alive. She looks ready for a heart attack on that couch.
Hi, Dion
Genius! We'll never agree on this one. Children use highly expressive brushwork; it's the ones who learn to control their brushwork that might become real artists.
Strangely enough, I can enjoy expressive brushwork in watercolours and poster paints. A number of my favourite local artists wash colours over Indian ink drawings and it's very effective.
When it comes to oils, I like the brushwork disguised. It mars a picture just as brushwork in emulsion mars decorated walls. And who wants expressive brushwork in gloss paint on the woodwork? Don't answer that. Let me guess.
If I can't see brushwork I start to ask myself if a camera would have been more appropriate.
I love that I can appreciate both methods though. I can get just as excited over an old master as I can over a contemporary expressionist artist.
The good thing about art is that it is so varied. There's an artist or an art movement out there for everyone.
Variety certainly is the spice of life.
The camera has a lot to answer for. It's obvious that many artists adopt a sloppy, slapdash painting technique just so people can tell at a glance that it isn't a photo. So even good artists try not to paint at their best. Weird, but understandable.
The one place where quality illustrations win over photos is text books on, say, birds of Britain, or wild flowers. Even though photography is getting better and better, a quality illustration of a stag beetle wins every time, because all that cluttery background that fills a photo isn't painted by the artist.
See of you can find a copy of Thorburn's Birds to see what I mean.
Post a Comment
<< Home