abstractions: atelier skythunder

Art in historical/social context: The Stolen Kiss

August 20, 2010

Is she really having such a good time?

Do you ever read a critique of a painting that you don’t agree with? Of course we all do. A recent review of The Stolen Kiss by Jean Honore Fragonard in the UK’s Independent bothered me.

So, The Stolen Kiss: I think not.

The painter is trapped within the ways of his time and produced infantile paintings designed to delight. But in historical context, they reveal attitudes of mind in play at the time.  Observing the behaviours of his time, this painting depicts a forceful male act against an unwilling woman disguised in the coded social language of the day.

It is his kiss, not hers, and by stolen in the (English) title, clearly not something he is entitled to.

Her posture is clear: she is off balance, not balanced, find her left foot, and it seems she is actually being pulled. Indeed, he has obviously stepped into the room as she opened the door or moved in his direction, since his left foot is stepping on her hem. More evidence of control? I suspect her right leg is bent and braced against his pull.

She has also been interrupted in what she was doing as she has not let go of her handiwork and apparently intends not to, which one would have done if one were going to greet the visitor willingly — he is a known person, but an intruder nonetheless.

Her right arm suggests she is searching for a place to put it, to steady herself against his force as he is gripping this arm with both his hands; more control.

Her mouth is pursed and eyes are averted — I don’t think she is having any fun.

There are people in the other room but she is not part of that crowd, preferring to sit quietly in a separate room  — perhaps they are discussing whether she should be matched with the man, gossip around the card table and he, emboldened by the discussion,  has decided to invade her private space.

She is hardly heroic. There is no sexual furnace in the middle of this painting only the flash of male fantasy, of hidden delights and the need to use force over persuasion.

She just wishes he’d be gone. There is no moral ambiguity here.

| Tags: critique, Fantasy, Visual Arts

The axe falls

July 12, 2010

Publicly funded art: a chilling experience?

Had you had the opportunity to read Art of England Back Chat item  I wrote and read the headline of the Financial Times for Saturday, 10 July 2010, [read the article here] you would have learned what is store for the arts in the UK — entrepreneurialism, philanthropy and the dismantling of the welfare state that is arts funding.

Of course this will require a change of behaviour of artists as well as the institutions that comprise the art and culture world.  Special interests will by their very nature plead for special treatment and perhaps some of these arguments will have merit. But in the main, the lazy hazy days of the public gravy train are near an end and cultural forces will have to be a little bit extra tuned toward their cultural audiences and away from the solipsism and self-indulgence that seems to pass for much art.

There is no lack of philanthropy for idiosyncratic acquisition of dodgy art, and there is no end to the institutionalisation of art in national galleries (along with a reluctance to prune the holdings — just see the fuss when the Albright-Knox in Buffalo, NY wanted to do this).

But culture is dynamic not static and warehousing art in public galleries is little different from checking the chest freezer to see what could be thawed out for dinner.

Comments (0) | Tags: Arts, Financial Times, London, Refrigerator, Temperature

How to swing the arts funding axe

June 25, 2010

Arts groups prepare for funding cuts

No doubt many in the arts community are concerned at rising levels of public sector austerity. For many their very existence depends on public funding of one sort or another.

Few, though, will of necessity understand the underlying logic why there are public funding programmes for the arts in the first place, apart from vague notions that the arts are valuable.  But funding the arts gets mixed up in funding culture and that involves public values and what is, and what isn’t, of culture importance.

I have a short piece in the UK magazine, “Art of England”, Issue 72 August 2010, “How to swing the arts funding axe: a user guide”, which draws on my own experience in policy to present what are essentially four options facing the arts/culture community. Choosing amongst the options would lead to an approach to the use of public funding and have an impact of one sort or another on the shape of culture institutions and the behaviour of artists themselves.

If you are concerned about the ways the arts are funded, but don’t want to read a thick book, this short article may illuminate the issues. Email me with your preferred choice.

| Tags: Arts Funding, Public sector

Art and Money (creativity and poverty?)

April 07, 2010

Most artists don’t make a living at their art, and most people who study art formally fail to develop their studies into a viable career. Writing in Art of England magazine recently, I observed that we should start viewing artists as entrepreneurs. Of course, what we see instead is institutionalised poverty, since government arts grants and various other projects define art in terms of what granting agencies think art is, and one feature is to undervalue the artist’s time. The result in the main is a lot of student quality work, unfulfilled artists beavering away in sheds and back rooms. I believe that all artists want to achieve a measure of artistic recognition and financial independence.

The Independent newspaper (UK) the other day featured the 10 best cheap art to buy. The works art, if that doesn’t stretch the imagination too far, were by and large commercial reproductions, posters and ersatz rubbish you stick on your wall. Given the word cheap, and knowing what prices many real artists sell their work for, the Independent newspaper could just as easily have gone to the trouble of finding 10 artists whose work is affordable, and undoubtedly better. What were they thinking? But perhaps they are just part of the problem for real working artists.

As noted in an earlier post, Bruno Frey’s views on the economics of art are relevant, as he picks apart this iron triangle to show that there are better ways to support successful artists. Indeed, the success of an arts policy in the end depends on the success of artists, and not the production of art. Yet we support the art but not the artist.

Their failure of artists in the main to be entrepreneurial and build successful careers is a criticism as much of artists as the welfare state that protects them.  It should cause considerable dismay and a call to action across the creative spectrum.  I have special criticism for academe where people often begin their art non-career by simply wondering why art as technique is taught at university; it seems bit like teaching undergraduates how to use a pen so they can take notes in class — probably better done elsewhere.

As for the theme of art and money, well, time to end the poverty trap that artists have allowed society to put them in. Oh yes, artists need to make their own way in the world — just like the rest of us. Perhaps the solution is to make that easier.

Comments (1) | Tags: art, Bruno Frey, Economics, Government

Sunny, sunny day!

March 07, 2010

The sun is shining and my paint brushes are far too dry for their own good. The heavy paper I like to use is pristine and awaiting the tentative first brush with acrylic fate.

Comments (0)

The Artist as Entrepreneur

February 25, 2010

Art of England has published a short piece of mine. It is about the ‘grants welfare state’ and proposes that artists should be funded more as investments, over a few years, leading to artistic and financial success, rather than supported through project grants.

Art of England, issue number 68, 2010.

Comments (0) | Tags: "good idea", "reality bites", insight

Art and Identity

January 25, 2010

Subtitled, What can we learn from art about our sense of identity, this short article explores some of the themes of the Wellcome Collection’s (London) show Identity: 8 Rooms.

Art of England, 67, 2010.

Comments (0) | Tags: "reality bites", science

Medicine for Body and Soul

December 28, 2009

Art of England has published a short piece of mine. It is some commentary on a conference in London on arts and health. Art of England, issue number 66.

Comments (0) | Tags: "good idea", insight

New Work: to December 2009

December 15, 2009

These pieces are in a new series called Reflections, and explore inner thoughts and reflective moods.

One piece evokes a walk I had in my local area in rural Kent. The sun was setting and the fields were dotted with a regular pattern of hay bales, some cylinders, some cubes. The sun was hitting them just so. All was really peaceful, and the sky was that blue/red you get just before the sun sets.

The others are ideas I keep coming back to.

Please click here for the new work.

[book id='1' /]

Comments (0) | Tags: artful

Périphéries

December 01, 2009

Brigitte Coulombe is an artist in Northern Ontario, Canada. Her work in this show are semi-abstracted minimalistic interpretations of Lake Nipissing. Floating free on the wall, they are unframed.

This show was held in the La Galerie Du Nouvel-Ontario in Sudbury during November, and while there I had an opportunity for a look.  These pieces are quite stripped back in terms of content, so one is forced to imagine a great deal.  They are “semi”-abstract as the artist herself sees the lines across her work as an explicit interpretation of the horizon, but at the same time, the absence of a point of reference, does leave one floating free, like the work hanging on the wall.

I quite like these works, partly because they are large and so have a real presence, but also for her stripped back use of colour, and her effort to achieve this lack of place association, despite the works being of a specific place.  People who have experienced snow on a frozen lake, and the impression of the horizon, will grasp these paintings quickly.

Comments (0) | Tags: artful, critique