What do you want from Art?

[Demo_Chris]

25. At the risk of goving offense....

I think most people are baffled by the bullshit. They want art to inspire them to pause and think about the world in a different way, and they have convinced themselves that this is a difficult challenge that transcends technical merit. It's not. I would day instead that real art, REAL art, must be viewed as if it were divorced from the framing and the hype. If it cannot be appreciated on that level then it is not art, but advertising.

If a chef like Gordon Ramsay begins with the best ingredients and prepares them flawlessly, he could serve that meal on china or a paper wrapper and it would still taste fantastic. It does not need the framing of the fine china, the ornate environment, or the five star revues, the difference is hopefully self evident. A Big Mac on fine china is still just a Big Mac.

Most art today does not meet this threshold. It relies completely on this framing to succeed. If you saw 'Pastel Poo #4' on someone's home carpet it would only open your mind in terms of forcing you to appreciate just what a gullible moron this person was. If you saw it in an alley you would kick it aside, but place it in an empty white room with a spotlight and a flier talking about stairways to the subconscious mind and suddenly its art. It's only art because someone who wants your money told you it was art. It's a Big Mac on china.