I don't know much about Art, but dot dot dot

[gingerjon]

14 minutes ago, ckn said:

For much the same reason as most people don't do things in areas they know well.  They go elsewhere and do touristy stuff but not in their own back-yard.

I live just 10 minutes drive from the area where Constable did most of his paintings, it's a fantastically beautiful part of England yet most people around here have never been.

I only did the Edinburgh thing as my wife was off for a hairdo session that would take about 3 hours and I was looking for something to do.

Just a bit surprised. Don't really regard art galleries as a tourist thing, more a thing to do.

I do like the Scottish National Gallery. The Scottish National Portrait Gallery is impressive as well. Very austere building. Good cafe. Some art.

[Shadow]

5 minutes ago, Johnoco said:

Ha Ha,  I was in Salts Mill on Saturday afternoon. It's nice, if full of slightly poncy people.

Open goal...too easy.

[Gerrumonside ref]

5 minutes ago, Johnoco said:

Ha Ha,  I was in Salts Mill on Saturday afternoon. It's nice, if full of slightly poncy people.

Art is for everyone in my opinion.

There’s just a preconceived notion that it can only be enjoyed by certain social groups.

[Shadow]

Several years ago I went with Mrs Shadow to Amsterdam for the weekend and one of the stops on our agenda was the Van Gogh museum.

As we went in there was a massive queue heading in to the Van Gogh exhibits but no one heading down to a temprary display of contemporary American artists so we went down there. After 30 minutes wandering round I was amazed at the quality and range of paintings on display to the extent that I couldn't see how the queue to get upstairs was warranted. Then we went upstairs and it was stunningly obvious why. There was such a profound difference in quality and depth that I couldn't actually describe how much better it was. The only (very poor) example I could come up with was the Contemporary American stuff was like a decent non league player, cleary way better than I could hope to be and when in their own environment looked good, then seeing Real Madrid play Barcelona.

[Gerrumonside ref]

Just now, Shadow said:

Several years ago I went with Mrs Shadow to Amsterdam for the weekend and one of the stops on our agenda was the Van Gogh museum.

As we went in there was a massive queue heading in to the Van Gogh exhibits but no one heading down to a temprary display of contemporary American artists so we went down there. After 30 minutes wandering round I was amazed at the quality and range of paintings on display to the extent that I couldn't see how the queue to get upstairs was warranted. Then we went upstairs and it was stunningly obvious why. There was such a profound difference in quality and depth that I couldn't actually describe how much better it was. The only (very poor) example I could come up with was the Contemporary American stuff was like a decent non league player, cleary way better than I could hope to be and when in their own environment looked good, then seeing Real Madrid play Barcelona.

I like Van Gogh’s self portrait in felt hat at that gallery.

[ckn]

17 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

Just a bit surprised. Don't really regard art galleries as a tourist thing, more a thing to do.

I do like the Scottish National Gallery. The Scottish National Portrait Gallery is impressive as well. Very austere building. Good cafe. Some art.

Art hasn't really been my "thing". I put it down to my school art teacher putting me off with her attitude of "you're good at art or you're nothing".  First year in school, we had this outstanding old teacher, well into her 60s who gave everyone tailored attention depending on their aptitude and attitude.  Second year, we had this 20-something moron who believed only the "talented" deserved attention and her attitude on major artists was that if you didn't know them then you were a cretin.

I didn't dislike art, I just had a minor reverse-snobbery prejudice because of this that it took me years to get over.

[DavidM]

There’s also an awful lot of pomposity and pretentious nonsense . I like to look at a painting and say wow , how’d you paint that ... and recognise what it is . As I say all those old masters works are just literally unbelievable . Now you get that blank wall or pair of underpants on a watermelon is art ... because I say it is . And if you don’t agree and don’t stand there sage like rubbing your chin then your a philistine . Lot of the emperors new clothes stuff , like fashion and increasingly cooking ( drizzle and a bit of privet on top ) . I hate all that kind of superior tripe . But I’ll admit I know nowt and probably indeed am a philistine . I’m dying to go into an art gallery and walk round asking ‘ is that a Da Vinci ? ‘

Edited January 9, 2019 by DavidM

[gingerjon]

1 minute ago, ckn said:

Art hasn't really been my "thing". I put it down to my school art teacher putting me off with her attitude of "you're good at art or you're nothing".  First year in school, we had this outstanding old teacher, well into her 60s who gave everyone tailored attention depending on their aptitude and attitude.  Second year, we had this 20-something moron who believed only the "talented" deserved attention and her attitude on major artists was that if you didn't know them then you were a cretin.

I didn't dislike art, I just had a minor reverse-snobbery prejudice because of this that it took me years to get over.

I think I'm kinda lucky because I grew up killing time in big old buildings filled with art where I could just interact with them how I liked and no one minded.

The big old buildings were churches and I always liked the art and the singing far more than anything else. I just carry on doing that when in the vicinity of actual galleries.

[Gerrumonside ref]

I think I started to enjoy art more when I tried to read and understand the iconography or concepts behind some of it.  That said, art criticism is very subjective so it pays to read from more than one source.

When I was younger, I too had an attitude of hating what I didn’t understand, particularly when it came to modern art.  I think most of it was borne out of the fear of looking stupid amongst intellectual peers.

I also believe I bought into the state of mind that I was in some way the wrong ‘class’ to enjoy certain types of art.

 

 

 

[gingerjon]

I don't think you'll get the full impact but this is a quite extraordinary piece (large scale, fills a wall) by Lisa Reihana called In Pursuit of Venus Infected. (Bit of detail here: http://www.inpursuitofvenus.com/about/). 

 

 

[damp squib]

16 hours ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

Luckily for me, I’m getting to tick off something I’ve always wanted to do this year and visit the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Unfortunately it’s a visit at night as part of a cruise excursion and it’s slightly limited, although there won’t be the crowds that can sour the enjoyment of some popular art galleries and museums.

Anyone been? 

I went two years ago for my honeymoon. I'd recommend planning before hand what you'd like to see as it's too big to visit everything. Most importantly - BOOK ONLINE! There are always massive queues at the ticket booths but we had our printout and went straight through a side door. I couldn't believe it.

How late is the night visit? I highly recommend Yat nearby on the canal for dinner. Try their home-made Kvass and the Schchi soup. Mains are hefty.

Are you doing the three day visa-free cruise thing?

[damp squib]

17 minutes ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

I think I started to enjoy art more when I tried to read and understand the iconography or concepts behind some of it.  That said, art criticism is very subjective so it pays to read from more than one source.

When I was younger, I too had an attitude of hating what I didn’t understand, particularly when it came to modern art.  I think most of it was borne out of the fear of looking stupid amongst intellectual peers.

I also believe I bought into the state of mind that I was in some way the wrong ‘class’ to enjoy certain types of art.

That was a huge thing for me for years and as a result I convinced myself that I only enjoyed technically excellent classical art as at least I understood that "it looks like the thing it's supposed to look like"!

I'm almost the opposite now in that I find a lot of the typical big landscapes/renaissance religious scenes boring in spite of their technical brilliance and I prefer more modern stuff that makes me think a bit or is aesthetically pleasing in an abstract way.

[Gerrumonside ref]

2 minutes ago, damp squib said:

I went two years ago for my honeymoon. I'd recommend planning before hand what you'd like to see as it's too big to visit everything. Most importantly - BOOK ONLINE! There are always massive queues at the ticket booths but we had our printout and went straight through a side door. I couldn't believe it.

How late is the night visit? I highly recommend Yat nearby on the canal for dinner. Try their home-made Kvass and the Schchi soup. Mains are hefty.

Are you doing the three day visa-free cruise thing?

Thanks for the personal recommendations!

We’ve got 2 full days and 1 night in St Petersburg and no exact detail over the night visit to the Hermitage as of yet.

I think we will be doing the three day visa free cruise thing you have mentioned.

[damp squib]

2 minutes ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

Thanks for the personal recommendations!

We’ve got 2 full days and 1 night in St Petersburg and no exact detail over the night visit to the Hermitage as of yet.

I think we will be doing the three day visa free cruise thing you have mentioned.

Is the night visit set in stone? I think I remember reading that one of the conditions of the 3-day visa free thing is that you need to book an "official tour" (which is maybe what your hermitage tour is) but apparently you don't actually have to go on it. If so you could skip it and go on your own during the day and free up the one night for a show in the Mariinsky Theatre. I could be wrong on that but it might be worth looking into. I'd also recommend doing the sightseeing boat tour rather than an open top bus tour if you were planning that. You see all the major sights and the canals are beautiful.

[DavidM]

I went to the Hermitage with university . Moscow , then St Petersburg ( by train .... it looked quite a short trip on the map ) . St Petersburg I found far nicer . Don’t remember much about the Hermitage as it was 26 years ago and the whole country was a total basket case in transition between the communist block system and who knows what next . Beggars and people harassing you for anything everywhere we went and hotels which were relics . It was February to and minus 9 .All I do remember is the building itself being the best exhibit . Completely incredible facade which went on forever . And inside it’s opulent and full of bling ... and you understand why they had a revolution . Moscow State Circus was good though . 

Edited January 9, 2019 by DavidM

[gingerjon]

19 minutes ago, Johnoco said:

Got no time for 'modern art'  at all. I understand the concept of it but it's just that literally, I could kick over a mop and bucket and claim it's my new masterpiece.

There has to be an element of artistic 'drawing' talent, not just a load of stuff thrown in a heap and called something pretenscious.

And if someone wins the Turner Prize next year with 'Mop & Bucket in angst', I want a cut!

Some (a lot) of it is ######. But then not every Dutch artist of the 1500s was any good even if they could draw lace nicely.

And a lot, really a lot, depends on context.

One of the best exhibitions I went to last year (took the kids as well) was this one. And yet, take the pieces out of this setting, and into something a bit more pretentious and they would be unbearable.

https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/blog/space-shifters-video-exhibition-preview

[DavidM]

43 minutes ago, Johnoco said:

Got no time for 'modern art'  at all. I understand the concept of it but it's just that literally, I could kick over a mop and bucket and claim it's my new masterpiece.

There has to be an element of artistic 'drawing' talent, not just a load of stuff thrown in a heap and called something pretenscious.

And if someone wins the Turner Prize next year with 'Mop & Bucket in angst', I want a cut!

I think that won it last year .

[Futtocks]

4 hours ago, Johnoco said:

Got no time for 'modern art'  at all. I understand the concept of it but it's just that literally, I could kick over a mop and bucket and claim it's my new masterpiece.

There has to be an element of artistic 'drawing' talent, not just a load of stuff thrown in a heap and called something pretenscious.

And if someone wins the Turner Prize next year with 'Mop & Bucket in angst', I want a cut!

Us common folk don't use fancy spellin' like that!

I go to Tate Modern more than most galleries, simply because it is easy to get there from where I live. It isn't all installations of dubious merit - there's lots of good stuff to see in the non-ticket galleries.

[Bob8]

4 hours ago, gingerjon said:

Some (a lot) of it is ######. But then not every Dutch artist of the 1500s was any good even if they could draw lace nicely.

And a lot, really a lot, depends on context.

One of the best exhibitions I went to last year (took the kids as well) was this one. And yet, take the pieces out of this setting, and into something a bit more pretentious and they would be unbearable.

https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/blog/space-shifters-video-exhibition-preview

As someone who enjoys an occasional visit to the Tate in Liverpool, I took the trip up to the Louisiana gallery (https://www.louisiana.dk/en/visit-louisiana) north of Copenhagen.  It is in a great setting, a bit of a walk from the train station.  Turned out to be utter pretentious .

[DavidM]

I mentioned Holbein before , and I love looking at his paintings . What people like him paint is our window on these times . It was the propaganda of the day as well as a status symbol and just great art . Project me as I want please , for now and history 

[Red Willow]

21 hours ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

Luckily for me, I’m getting to tick off something I’ve always wanted to do this year and visit the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Unfortunately it’s a visit at night as part of a cruise excursion and it’s slightly limited, although there won’t be the crowds that can sour the enjoyment of some popular art galleries and museums.

Anyone been? 

I have been, it is very busy during the day. It is huge so go with a plan with the things you want to see. some of the ceramic flowers were amazing.

[Red Willow]

Went to see the Pre Raphaelite exhibition at the Lowry recently really interesting to see them close up, the fine detail in hair etc  was so well painted you could almost touch it.

[gingerjon]

The National Art Pass is a very good thing to have if you're planning on going to an exhibition even every other month.

Included are the British Museum and British Library so you can go to the other extreme of modern rubbish and see some really old rubbish instead.

[Copa]

With the title I thought it was a reference to indigenous Australian art.

[gingerjon]

1 minute ago, Copa said:

With the title I thought it was a reference to indigenous Australian art.

Sadly now closed, but this was an incredible exhibition.