Modern art is crap -- is Jackson Pollock
better than The Aspen Beat?
The Aspen Beat,
by
Glenn Beaton
Original Article
Posted By: Big Bopper,
3/26/2021 1:42:51 PM
Which of these large paintings is better? One is by renowned artist Jackson Pollock, and one is by yours truly, The Aspen Beat.
I’m not known as an artist – heck, I’m not even known as a writer – but I can still apply paint to canvas, to myself and to everything else in the vicinity. That’s where my similarities with Pollock end.
Pollock was born in Cody, Wyoming, got expelled from two high schools, liked Mexican murals, was an alcoholic, and died drunk when he rolled his convertible. The car interior wound up looking like one of his paintings.
On an artistic level, Pollock is less admirable.
Reply 1 - Posted by:
marbles 3/26/2021 2:03:57 PM (No. 735886)
Art is subjective. It's worth whatever you can get anyone to pay for it. Most impressive paintings I ever saw were in caves ( Pech Merle , Lascaux, Font du Gaume ) in France. Long before there were critics and an " art market ".
6 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
Jesuslover54 3/26/2021 2:18:35 PM (No. 735904)
Glenn, you know Pollock was a great artist. Just jealous.
1 person likes this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
davew 3/26/2021 2:23:53 PM (No. 735910)
Modern art emerged in response to photography that made presentational art (the thing for itself) obsolete. What artists were forced to do was go beyond realism and express subjective experience in a way that can be shared by others. This is why the historic background, life experience, cultural context, and even political point of view of the artist is more important than the art object created. Jackson Pollack's art is valued by wealthy collectors because of how Jackson Pollack's personal artistic subjective perspective influenced the paint and canvas that survived him. It is the original Non-Fungible-Token (NFT) for Jackson Pollack. If Glenn Beaton's life was as tortured and tragic as Pollack's his art might be valued by collector's as well. It also means that to appreciate modern art you must understand and study the artist first.
Modern music is simpler since what people value is their personal experience with the music and not its intrinsic musicality or the skills of the artist that created it. Most of the pop music stars are products manufactured by other skilled musicians, composers, audio engineers, producers, and marketing executives. This is why for people who grew up in a different context modern pop music is crap. The technology has replaced the artistic vision of individual composers and performers. It will take time to see which music styles endure and which are lost.
Time is the final arbiter of art quality.
7 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
Highlander 3/26/2021 2:33:38 PM (No. 735922)
I saved tons of money not buying art. I do have swap meet prints that adorn my walls very nicely. Who needs a Pollock?
3 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
red1066 3/26/2021 2:36:38 PM (No. 735923)
Anytime a painting looks like someone stood back and hurled a loaded paint brush, or a can of paint at a canvas, and calls it an art piece, they're lying. There's no talent involved in doing that.
15 people like this.
He makes the very good point that an anonymous individual was able to produce "artwork" which was distinguishable from something by Pollock only by the fact that that individual used paints which were not available when Pollock painted. More recently, someone submitted a painting by a five year old as being by an adult. The art world swooned over the fact that this adult artist was able to capture the feel that a kindergardener had painted the picture.
12 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
RayLRiv 3/26/2021 2:53:24 PM (No. 735946)
It ain't Michelangelo, that's for sure.
11 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
Tusker 3/26/2021 2:54:17 PM (No. 735947)
Well, one "may" be "able to do that" but unless you are the FIRST "to do that", you don't count.
Console ones self in the knowledge that some loaded "oriental type" bought a Pollock or two for several millions of dollars, hung it up and the paint fell off.
Therein is the lesson.
Selah.
5 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
Safari Man 3/26/2021 3:28:10 PM (No. 735979)
Each morning my bedsheets are all tossed and twisted. I declare it to be art, and go about my day with one masterpiece under my belt already.
12 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
chance_232 3/26/2021 3:43:53 PM (No. 735989)
Frankly, if you put a gun to my head and made me choose which painting I preferred, the Aspen Beat would be my choice.
I am not now, nor have I ever been a fan of abstract art.
5 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
VirtuDawg 3/26/2021 4:10:15 PM (No. 736007)
San Francisco is giving away $500/month stipends to “artists” who live in SF
I think that I’m going to apply as a straight white male who self-identifies as a female transgender black who self-identifies as Polynesian who self-identifies as a resident of SF. My “art”: I daub my naked body in paint and sing off-key while accompanying myself on an out of tune ukulele.
I’ll let you know if I get an award . . .
7 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
comstock 3/26/2021 4:25:16 PM (No. 736018)
Sign me up, #11. I'll buy your art with those foil covered chocolate coins, which I declare to be NFT and worth $1000 each. How many do you want?
4 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
Shells 3/26/2021 4:46:33 PM (No. 736028)
#3 gets it.
Once photography came along, art had to evolve. It’s purpose changed.
A lot of modern art looks like garbage - and is in fact garbage - but much of it is important as well.
Pollack, and others, weren’t trying to paint pretty pictures. They were challenging the way people see things, and forcing the viewer to become part of the artistic experience.
1 person likes this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
DVC 3/26/2021 5:15:42 PM (No. 736051)
Yes, modern art is crap. No question about it.
4 people like this.
Davew (reply #3) mistakes an interesting biography for artistic achievement. By his criterion, Eugene d'Albert—with six wives, etc.—would be considered a greater composer than Brahms.
3 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
coldborezero 3/26/2021 6:34:06 PM (No. 736103)
Re #3 and #13: Uh, BULLBUTTER!
3 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
Avikingman 3/26/2021 6:34:15 PM (No. 736104)
Some fine art is sublime. Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose comes to mind. The Clarke Institute in Williamstown, MA has the largerst US collection of Renoir's, or used to. A Fragonard there, The Warrior, is breathtaking.
But some shysters are into fine art now, and it's become a "portal" for money laundering.
Everyone w a name gets in on it.
0 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
udanja99 3/26/2021 6:39:35 PM (No. 736109)
I have a BFA degree in graphic design with a minor in art history from one of the top art colleges in the country. #3’s first paragraph sounds a lot like some of my classmates who were trying to justify to the faculty the awful stuff they were creating.
If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with BS.
11 people like this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
kono 3/26/2021 8:28:10 PM (No. 736172)
Julianne Moore's adaptation of Pollock's technique in The Big Lebowski was more interesting than what I've seen of his work.
But art work is its own point. No knowledge about the artist should be needed to appreciate his or her work, notwithstanding #3.
3 people like this.
Reply 20 - Posted by:
GrandmaP 3/27/2021 9:23:05 AM (No. 736594)
When you finish reading Glenn Beaton's article on Pollack et al, hit his home page and read his previous article about modern music is crap. Good stuff. It's been a while since I read his blog, but I'll be sure not to miss it again.
0 people like this.
Reply 21 - Posted by:
NYbob 3/27/2021 1:32:21 PM (No. 736794)
Fascinating. #3 for the defense claims you have to know the artists story to appreciate the art. Wow. That IS part of the NYC scam, but IF the personal struggle of the 'artist' determined the quality of the art, every mental hospital in the world would be churning out masterpieces.
Glenn is right about most of his comments, but he is upset about whatever quality a painting might have in terms of technique, narrative and ultimate affect on viewers. Pollacks artworks can be mocked for materials, technique and even importance. They were a benchmark for patterned/field paintings vs the usual descriptive images. After being the first, they quickly fade as far as decorative value or compositions that intrigue the viewer, in my opinion. For all the paint, they are drab, confused, scribbles. DeKooning, Motherwell, just about anyone else looks innovative and exciting next to any Pollack, but you have to salute him for the financial tidal wave his art unleashed.
Glenn is attacking the artist and although Pollack was a mess as a human, he was just doing his job of trying to make something beautiful that others would enjoy. The 'outrage' of celebration and gigantic value that happened over Pollacks art, wasn't his 'fault.' The article addresses the story of promotion and the unique market of NYC since 1960, but the outrage really isn't about one painting vs another. I'd rather have the crazy world of Fine Art that sells a hustle for millions than a world where other experts determine what is 'good' and what is unacceptable. I guess Glenn hasn't seen the movie 'Big Eyes.' It is very good.
I wish all the outrage of many about how expensive some paintings are would take a moment and consider that the 'cr_p' movie 'It' about a sadistic killer clown made over $325 million and rewired the brains of millions of viewers in a not very uplifting way. Next to that a self destructive drunk who happened to make a living painting and being mocked for it even after death, looks like some kind of Angel.
1 person likes this.
Reply 22 - Posted by:
MickTurn 3/27/2021 2:42:37 PM (No. 736838)
I have a saying I use to describe 'Art'. "If I can do it, It's definitely NOT ART!"
The stuff I see today looks like third graders got in to the paint and put it in a blender...without the lid!
1 person likes this.
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Well, they're both kinda crappy.