Following on from the collection of possible sources made in session, I have started to analyse some of these and pick out key ideas and quotes. I've found Grayson Perry's book Playing to the Gallery particularly useful as it discusses the issue of taste and aesthetic from an artist's perspective but considers the dialogue between artist and audience.
The main concept I drew from this book was the idea that curators, critics and collectors are the definers of 'good' art. I am interested to explore this idea of who is in charge of taste in modern societies and how has it come about that an artist has to choose to conform to 'high art' or 'low art'.
KEY QUOTES AND INITIAL ANALYSIS
- 'Exposure of an artist in the media and the resulting fame is seen as tacky by many highbrow types; they don't think it should influence the validation process, they think being popular is a dodgy quality in art'
Perry here seems to critique the media, suggesting that they shouldn't be able to decide what is good, yet they remain in control by saying what is tasteful. Furthermore, the 'highbrow types' think popularity should be organic, despite use being told popular works are 'good'.
- 'If you go to the Louvre and see the Mona Lisa, you're so built up because it's the most famous artwork in the world that it's inevitably going to disappoint. But if you just walked in on it, you'd go, 'Wow, that's an amazing painting.' '
It is interesting that gallery owners enforce their own power by projecting their own taste, but in doing so , they reduce the taste of the work, holding it up to such a level that it becomes commercial.
Are art critics/ collectors/ curators willing to degrade their own taste to commercialism and popularity in order to make money?
Does commercializing 'high art' disrespect it and go against its power?
- 'the part of our mind that cannot stand not knowing, not understanding fully, so when confronted with a soft problem like 'What is good art?' Our mind starts generating baloney to cover its discomfort.'
Evidently, people cannot identify a definition of what good art is, so we put our trust in what we are told, rather than generating our own opinion.
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