My idea of art is very different then many people’s idea/ideas on art and that is the way it should be. My focus is largely Artist and object centric. I value and pursue works that showcase the changes in an artist, or moments of rarity and value. I value work that isn’t a cross the board blockbuster or something for everyone shmorgusborg of ideas and themes or even worse yet a jerk/spasm lunge for the momentary perceived zeitgeist of the day. Which you can see a lot and every artist I know either struggles to keep at bay, embraces or avoid to an extreme degree.
My favorite works are when an artist of substance has the juevos to perform or embrace a genre outside ones established territory. It does not always make the highest quality work but goes to show two things I believe in.
1. Genre is a silly little thing that makes art consuption easier. It’s usefull to organize and predict works but when the audience uses it to limit or create a exclusive ideology on life it bloats into one of the most distructive forces in art and that is often overlooked.
ex.Too many punk rockers can’t say they like a single classical work. To many academic painters can not enjoy a pop work or visa versa. To many Art House film makes can’t share their love for a Bond film.
2. Great artists bring a style/voice that is independent of the work and is best enjoyed and most clear when shown in contrast to the expected output.
ex. Johnny Cash’s covers of other songs all of which are not great but the few that are are priceless. Actors like James Stewart as “Buttons” in the Greatest Show on Earth where he does work so unlike his persona and yet is more himself then most anywhere else. Then the point of this posting is one of the greatest moments in Grammy history, when in 1998 Aretha Franklin steps up to the plate to be a last minute fill in for the ever ill and unreliable Luciano Pavarotti who was scheduled to perform the aria “Nessun Dorma” live on stage. When I was in college and read she was going to step in the reviews in advance of the performance were harsh. There were many people who said she could not pull it off or that she would embarrass herself or worse yet American musicians by flubbing a Opera classic. There was a feeling of nervousness and groaning even before she performed. A feeling that I did not share and when I saw what you can watch in all its blurriness above I walked away proud of the work and felt it exemplified everything that is great about American art. The hard working, fearless, pick up others slack, swing for the fences, brash exuberance that made this one of the Greatest moments in Art from my point of view.
