Thursday, April 24, 2008

Art vs. Common Man

Below: an experiment to see if a painting by an accomplished painter, fetching huge wads of cash for his work, could catch the attention of the average passerby.


An article in the Washington Post a year ago did a similar experiment with an extremely accomplished violinist busking in a mall. The argument that sound would have helped to get people's attention does not stand.

A wonderful send up of all sides of the argument, almost cartoonishly so, (regardless of the earnestness all participants wielded) can be found in this 80s British talk show about art featuring Leigh Bowery and some real characters both in the unappreciative studio audience as well as the stiffs arguing the case for art,
...well shit. the video has been pulled from youtube. the second part is still there though the meat of the discussion with all its "rubbish"s is missing. grr. Wonderful trilogy of discussions on a topic: dashed. Here's the second half, but you miss them all arguing about an installation of a stack of bricks and Leigh's fantastic performance singing and then giving birth to a full grown bloody, naked woman.

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