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Post by oh oooh on Oct 3, 2022 13:44:42 GMT
Can you talk about your taste in general? Is there a particular mood or style you go for? Do you like things that make you feel good? Bright, optimistic things? Or are you more a fan of what's in the margins - darker, stranger things? Or does that depend on the kind of art?
Is older stuff generally more appealing to you? How far back can you go before it starts to look like boring old shit?
Should there be a sense of mystery? or do you like to be able to relate to it? Do you try to find out about the artist? Does it piss you off when things aren't easy to understand? or do you like that?
Does it help or hinder your appreciation if the artist is a 'good person'?
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rayge
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Post by rayge on Oct 3, 2022 14:22:05 GMT
Thirteen questions, But I'm in the middle of remodelling the garden (only came in to check emails), so I'll restrict my answers just to the last one for now - NO! Incidentally, am I going to be talking about the visual arts in general, just the fine arts, only painting?
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Post by oh oooh on Oct 3, 2022 14:49:13 GMT
All art! Music, cinema, the LOT
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Post by tory on Oct 3, 2022 15:45:42 GMT
They're too vague in terms of questions for me to answer to be honest. Why do we like the things we like? It's a HUGE question - and I certainly don't have an easy answer.
Why do I love Caravaggio? Probably because he's a bit of a character, but also because he was a revolutionary, particularly with taking Renaissance painting away from idealism towards the sort of realism that one found in Roman pubs and taverns. Do I like any other artist who does that? I don't know - probably not to be honest. I can't apply an aesthetic found in one painter to others. It is the exact time and era that Caravaggio paints which informs my sensibility in many ways- but also what he paints.
I love the work of Sussex painter James Ravilious - but then that's partly because his painting appeals, but also because my family in general loves his work. My father did, my brother does and so do I. There's a irrationality in that which makes a part of the appeal.
Byzantine era mosaics, like those in Ravenna, with their huge staring eyes, are a part of my own "stable" of what I like.
However, talk to me about abstracts such as styles, subjects and whatever and I'm lost. I prefer to talk in concrete terms about paintings that exist rather than, say, "genres". You would never get me saying "ooh I love the Pre-Raphaelites" for example as it's an enormous subject and that sort of suggests that I love them all. It's like saying "I like rock music" when that might mean I love the Eagles AND the Stooges.
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Post by tory on Oct 3, 2022 15:48:42 GMT
In terms of age, there's really no limit. I mean, if you're not at least intrigued by the Lascaux cave paintings then there's something wrong with you in my opinion.
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Post by fearlessfreap on Oct 3, 2022 17:09:16 GMT
I like the above cave paintings, indigenous Australian art, earthworks, colorful 20th century abstracts, especially Miro, Mondrian, some surrealism, particularly Ernst, Tanguy, the more humorous pop art of the 60's.
I have no use for conceptual art (Piss Christ, anything with rotting meat) - Emperor's new clothes, or the delicate impressionists.
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Post by tory on Oct 3, 2022 17:24:57 GMT
I popped into the Tate Modern the other week and my initial thought was "50% of this could be put on the bonfire and no-one would really give a fuck deep down"
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toomanyhatz
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I've met him/her. He/she's great!!
Posts: 3,242
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Post by toomanyhatz on Oct 3, 2022 19:53:38 GMT
I think the older I get the more I realize the one and only thing I care about when it comes to any of the arts is personal vision. Doesn't have to be one I relate to or agree with, and doesn't need to be free of outside influence. I just have to recognize its presence. Something compelled this person to create this piece of art.
I was talking to a friend of mine recently about the 'ta da!' aspect of so much music that we don't care for. Could be performed by amazing musicians that have skills well beyond my own, but if they're doing it primarily to impress me with their skill, that's the quickest way to get me to lose interest.
The second-quickest is to be directly imitative, though stuff that attempts to be derivative often ends up imbued with the maker's personality anyway, so that's a less hard-and-fast rule.
I think my taste runs light/dark, new/old, simple/complex, etc. I think what I seek most is sincerity.
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Post by oh oooh on Oct 3, 2022 20:03:14 GMT
More than magic?
I look for magic. Always.
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Sneelock
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you're gonna break another heart
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Post by Sneelock on Oct 3, 2022 20:04:19 GMT
I'm glad I grew up when "Pop Art" was a thing. the lines were merging between "fine art" & consumerism. I'm no sociologist so I don't know if it was good for art or culture. I know it was good for me personally. Warhol & Japer Johns and those guys - they made me feel like art is something you can pick up at the store along with the loaf or bread and quart of milk.
I like Hopper. I like Chagall's happy flying people. I love all those Rembrandt type guys with all the brass and shadows but I don't really hang it on the wall. I have some posters. I like low brow. I am low brow.
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toomanyhatz
god
I've met him/her. He/she's great!!
Posts: 3,242
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Post by toomanyhatz on Oct 3, 2022 20:16:21 GMT
More than magic? I look for magic. Always. Oh, absolutely! But I think what I'm saying is true sincerity IS that magic. A different friend of mine, when asked what made a great song, said that the only good reason to write a song is because you have to. I think that applies to all the arts. I'm reading James Baldwin's 'Go Tell it on the Mountain' right now, and Baldwin said, when asked about it, that he had to write that book first or he would never be able to write another. I thought that was a weird thing to say, but 150 or so pages in, I know exactly what he means. I think where the magic comes from specifically may be hard to pin down, but to spout the old cliché, I know it when I see/hear it. Sometimes knowing the situation under which it was created helps, sometimes it's completely irrelevant. Anything that sparks some kind of reaction in me, though, even if it's a negative one, it usually does spark some interest in the creator and the conditions of the creation, to answer one of the other question.
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Post by Reactionary Rage on Oct 3, 2022 20:33:25 GMT
With art I tend to appreciate skill and craftsmanship and lean heavily towards figurative rather than abstract. It’s why I prefer classicism, renaissance, Baroque etc. As I’ve stated before I despise conceptual art, think pop art is childish and one note and I’d quite happily toss Damian Hirst and his ilk into a volcano.
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Post by oh oooh on Oct 3, 2022 20:37:07 GMT
With art I tend to appreciate skill and craftsmanship and lean heavily towards figurative rather than abstract. It’s why I prefer classicism, renaissance, Baroque etc. As I’ve stated before I despise conceptual art, think pop art is childish and one note and I’d quite happily toss Damian Hirst and his ilk into a volcano. so does anything tie together Sparks, Wagner, Renaissance art, horror movies and RuPaul's Drag Race?
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Post by Reactionary Rage on Oct 3, 2022 20:54:22 GMT
With art I tend to appreciate skill and craftsmanship and lean heavily towards figurative rather than abstract. It’s why I prefer classicism, renaissance, Baroque etc. As I’ve stated before I despise conceptual art, think pop art is childish and one note and I’d quite happily toss Damian Hirst and his ilk into a volcano. so does anything tie together Sparks, Wagner, Renaissance art, horror movies and RuPaul's Drag Race? I’d have to think about that. I like art that transports me basically. Be it norse mythology via Wagner, weird pop music (Sparks, Syd Barrett) or dutch paintings from the 17th century. I like sophistication and high drama. I like the seductive darkness of a Caravaggio in the same way I like the darkness and transportive magic of The Exorcist. I favour beauty over ugliness, be it a Da Vinci, a Bernini or some dress a drag queen has made in her bedroom. God that all sounds so fucking wanky.
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Post by oh oooh on Oct 3, 2022 20:59:00 GMT
No no! I genuinely enjoy reading people's thoughts about this.
I tend to prefer art that I can't understand, it shouldn't be fathomable, that way it retains magic (which to me is kind of the opposite of sincerity, to take up hatz' point).
But that doesn't work for film, because I can't tolerate complex plots at all. Books, films, have to be relatable, simple.
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