Saturday 18 May 2013

Think I missed the point

I often fail to make sense of art. I can look at something for a while and still not understand what it's all about, as was the case last night when I visited our 20 21 Visual Arts Centre. There was a free entry night, the word 'free' made me sit up and take notice. It was explained to me the previous day when I called in, the details being a bit confusing, but hey ho, there was a bar, and chips to be had,  so I thought it was worth a look.
Upon arrival I was greeted by this scene outside the entrance, two crashed cars, a recovery truck, and blue flashing lights. I had to check with the girl on reception whether it was real or staged. It was staged of course, all part of the event. Phew, I got all excited for a minute, thought I would be witnessing some dramatic scenes of big burly coppers carting away the law breakers.

A few folks had turned out for the event, some looking the artyfarty type, and me in my bog standard sensible, dressed for the chilly weather, in warm jacket, thick trousers, and boots. 
I proceeded past the bar, and into the main gallery in the church. Well well, there was some boxing going on. A young girl was punching hell out of a guy with massive pads on his hands. Apparently the Boxing Club is quite popular in our town. I wouldn't mind having a go at that. There was a man sized rubber boxing dummy close by, so I punched that in the face. Ha ha, such fun. The young girl was good, it looked pretty skillful actually.  

In the other room was a big screen showing exotic dancers a wiggling and a shaking their bits. Exotic or should I say erotic, music was playing, and this young lady was doing it for real on a small stage. Shaking her wobbly bits made the tassels on her bikini twirl and dance about. The tables were set out in night club style and folks were relaxed and chattering amongst themselves. I must say, I found watching this for a few minutes was a bit boring.

Back in the main gallery there was a break in the boxing, and a young lady took to the ring, dressed in a black rubber, body suit. She gave a 20 minute talk about the history of erotic and rude films, while posters were flashed up on the screen behind her. Her presentation was not very professional. She started a lot of sentences with 'erm', as she kept looking at her notes. She didn't engage with the audience by looking directly at our faces. And she had the irritating habit of taking two steps forward and two back, the whole time she was speaking. All of which distracted me from the point of her talk.

I tried to make sense of it all, but left feeling baffled and confused. Some artworks are going to be made of the night, in what form I do not know, but there was a lot of people taking photographs, so I suppose something will come of it. Will be interesting to see the end result.

I'm off down south to visit family now, catch you tomorrow. Have a nice weekend. Toodle pip.

7 comments:

  1. Think I agree with you not my type of art at all.

    Anne

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  2. There's a lot of rubbish under the guise of 'art'..sometimes real rubbish! I just don't get it.
    Jane x

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  3. Enjoy your visit with family, Iona. As to all the rest, I'm mot sure what to make of it all either. It's very eclectic. I'll leave it at that.

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  4. Hi Ilona Debbie here. You use the word 'skillfull' which I think sums up how I feel about art. Even if it's not to my taste I can appreciate some skill, talent or interesting vision that has gone into producing something. I often go to exhibitions and feel a bit confused by it all....the gogo dancer made me chuckle though. Take care.

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  5. All this so called "art" is far too clever for me.

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  6. Art for me should contain skill and beauty. A lot of art today reminds me of the fairytale 'The Emperor's New Clothes'. We are all told (usually by some twittering fawning media type) that so and so's art is amazing and wonderful and so on. I usually pay attention to the still small voice in me that says 'What a load of c**p'

    Mind you I wouldn't have minded punching the rubber dummy!!!

    Linda xx

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