Grumphy's Blogararium

THE BRIEF

I know very little about Art.

Notice the capital A?  This is the difference between a single work and all of human cultural creation. 

 Having  listened to the BBC’s History Of The World In A Hundred Objects , I find it fascinating.  History aside, the creations they discuss show evidence of  advancing culture.  I’m aiming to do the same here, but solely in Art.  But as I said, I know very little in this chosen subject, so feel free to tell me when I get it wrong.

So this is not to educate you, but to show how I am educating myself.

Art appreciation can be a dry subject.  There will be words we won’t understand.  People we’ve never heard of.  Why should we care?  This is the hardest question to answer, in the face of more important issues that shape and control the world.  Haiti, world poverty and the poisoning effect of X-Factor aside.

So reverse the question.  Imagine a life with no Art.  Would it be worth living?  Its easy to dismiss the latest crappy tweenager movie, but on some microscopic level, it  remains Art.  Asked another way, what if your life had been empty of any art, and then you saw this:

Judith slaying Holofernes by Artemisia Gentileschi

 Safe to say, there would be a reaction.  While gory, it creates a response, thought in Art Appreciation, the colour of that response matters little.  The existance of the response, and the culture that created it, is what I intend to explore.

LIMITATIONS

There have to be some of these.  I am limited by my knowlage, time and and memory capacity for this blog.  And,  to be honest, how many people are interested. 

I had an enlightening conversation with my partner last night.  She said that art appreciation is hidden in confusing terms.  That blocks of colour on a wall don’t say anything to her. That she cannot feel anything from it.

I understand this.  I don’t understand most works of art.  The chocolatebox landscapes leave me cold.  Pop art leaves me scratching my head. Damian Hirst seems like a bad joke, getting away with a con. 

Modern art aside, art hides itself behind a web of words.  Prices boggle the mind, and turns off the heart.  There has to be a key somewhere, something that can unlock my inner-art-appreciatior.

But the treasures of Sutton Hoo … fill me with awe.  The landscape art of South America leave me speechless, though I will never seen them in real life.   The Bayeux Tapestry, though tarnished with over-familiarity, would bring the hairs up on the back of my neck. 

So, there are other sites you can read if you are interested in art appreciation.  I will add them to my Links as I find them.  But here, faily regularly, will be my own exploration into the world of Art.