Dearra the art critic
By TheRealDawn
@dawnald (85135)
Shingle Springs, California
April 8, 2011 12:26pm CST
So this morning I'm looking at the entertainment section of the paper. Sacramento has this "second Saturday" thing, where all the art galleries are open, and they tell you where they are and what they're showing.
There was a picture of an abstract painting with splashed of yellow, blue, green and gray, with the title "Penelope and her Man". And I'm looking at it from all directions saying "I just don't see it".
So of course Dearra has to see what I'm looking at, and I tell her that I'm trying to see if I can see Penelope and/or her man in that painting.
Start rant.
"What the heck? I hate abstract art. It's just a bunch of blotches. That looks like crap. I'm going to fling a bunch of paint on a canvas and charge a million dollars for it. I don't get why people like that stuff."
Dearra's almost always good for a laugh in the morning. And I needed one today...
Dearra's almost always good for a laugh in the morning. And I needed one today...3 people like this
17 responses
@p1kef1sh (45681)
•
9 Apr 11
This is all very worrying Dawn. Dearra is a California girl and as such she needs to fit certain parameters. An appreciation of modernist cultural values is just one of them. Whilst roller skating along one Oceanside boulevard or another she needs to be able to deliver a running commentary on just how the influence of modern life lived at 150 mph can effect the portrayals of life via the medium of paint, ink or charcoal. Those splashes of paint are not simply random, but artfully placed in such a way as to resonate their meaning with the lives of Californians. To dismiss the as casual fast buck making daubs is to miss the point entirely. They are the very embodiment of Penelope or her man. She needs to feel the passion that the painter felt in order to fully appreciate the work. Get her to revisit it and see it afresh. Then she will genuinely see that like this response, it's all pretentious pseudo abstract rubbish....
2 people like this
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
10 Apr 11
oh my g pikey you really had me going I am going whats with pikey
saying all this rubbish love that pretentious pseudo abstract
rubbish love it indeed. we should engrave it and hang it in
every art gallery we see here in california. I was about read yto
get out the tar and feathers. loll lol
1 person likes this
@dawnald (85135)
• Shingle Springs, California
11 Apr 11
P1key, she is a northern California girl now, and that is an entirely different creature!!!
@dawnald (85135)
• Shingle Springs, California
8 Apr 11
You look at some of his early stuff, and you see he really could paint, but the later stuff just doesn't do much for me.
@katsmeow1213 (28717)
• United States
8 Apr 11
BTW.. have you seen the crud Picasso tried to pass of as art? I don't get it.. it's like he was visually dislexic but his stuff is worth millions if not billions.. my 3 year old can paint a better person than Picasso.. what's up with that?
2 people like this
@celticeagle (158958)
• Boise, Idaho
9 Apr 11
We have that same thing on Thursdays. SOrt of a walk about down town. I don't see anything in abstracts either. UGH! Is it in the martinis, or maybe it's the paint fumes. Where is the halluciagenics coming from anyway? I feel very left out! I like pictures with alot going on and you can tell its a house or a person or an animal.
2 people like this
@dawnald (85135)
• Shingle Springs, California
11 Apr 11
I like some abstracts. Others don't do anything for me...
@topffer (42156)
• France
8 Apr 11
Why not ? I like to see the catalogs of galleries. Some are really selling crap. They can do it because people have often a lack of education in arts -- particularly in contemporary art, which is an option rarely followed in high schools --, and also because they have -- or the 'artist' has -- the "good" speech permitting to sell this crap. If Dearra reads these catalogs, maybe she will be able to sell her canvas a million dollars
.
2 people like this
@macayadann (1235)
• Philippines
8 Apr 11
yeah, abstract is an abstract even when you turn it upside down, I do not get what they are trying to impart,drive at, or figure out and my gosh the amount, is that how much the paint costs. I know how to mix paint and to just throw it on canvass, I think we are already qualified by doing a mess on a canvass instead on our house.
@whyaskq (7523)
• Singapore
9 Apr 11
I tend to agree with Dearra. I am guilty of making such remarks at art exhibition too. Perhaps I do not have a creative mind. Perhaps I lack the imagination. But I envy those artists, especially my 3 year-old niece. She is one of those artists. lol.
1 person likes this
@dawnald (85135)
• Shingle Springs, California
11 Apr 11
I have some abstracts on my wall that were done by my children when they were 3 years old. I like them better than anything Picasso did. lol
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
10 Apr 11
hi dawn oh my he he he. I am laughing too and its eight pm here. Dearra the art critic is right up my alley. I look at so much abstract art and
I think like Dearra too.It usually is just a bunch of blotches and
it usually does look like crap. lol give her a hug for me too. lol.
Penelope and her man, wonder which blotch was Penelope and which
was her man? he he
@dawnald (85135)
• Shingle Springs, California
11 Apr 11
Well duh obviously Penelope was.... Wait, let me go get my glasses. hahahaha
@savypat (20216)
• United States
8 Apr 11
I use to feel just like Dearra does, in fact I would rather buy something painted by an elephant or chimp then most abstract artists. After several years of art education classes, I still feel that way about most abstract art, but there are some painters that can grab a feeling and communicate it with splashes of color and form.
2 people like this
@cynthiann (18602)
• Jamaica
8 Apr 11
Dearra and I need to meet and chat about art
1 person likes this
@vandana7 (98787)
• India
8 Apr 11
Dawny it is not something about being pro abstract or not... it is how they name it..I think. I agree it looks good in some backgrounds... but the name given to such paintings often makes the person looking at feel as if he or she is ignorant..most wouldnt dare to admit they didnt understand the correlation fearing they would be considered less art conscious..
2 people like this
@cynthiann (18602)
• Jamaica
11 Apr 11
I mostly agree with you vandana but it does depend on what kind of abstract art or cubism, etc. I would show Dearra a print of the famous painting by Picasso with the guitar. The guitar is painted in pieces - sort of jumbled up. I am writing this in haste so am not thinking this carefully through. Tell her the idea is that she put the pieces of the guitar together in her head just like joining pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. So she would 'lock' each piece picturing it in her mind. This is very difficult to do and takes extreme concentration and practice. If she can do it then for one brief glorious moment she will see the guitar in a 3 D version. She will see the back, front, sides, everything all together for a split second. This is the brilliance of Picasso. For one moment in time the mind plays this wonderful optical illusion.
With other forms of art then it is easy to begin by going by emotions. How does it make me feel? Would this painting give me a smile or would it give a splash of colour to a dark corner of a room.
The rambling point I was trying to make is that the unknown is usually rejectedd by us simpoly because it is that - unknown. Back to work.
1 person likes this
@much2say (53960)
• Los Angeles, California
8 Apr 11
Hee hee - yep, I've heard this a million times over from a lot of people as I am in the art world. And really, there are loads of opportunists who do fling a bunch of paint on canvas and try to pass it on as art. But then there are a lot of artists who developed their style (as crappy as it may seem to someone) - and it's interesting when you see their history as they came to this style. Like one may not "get" Picasso, but if you look starting from where his art roots came from, then you see how it progressed later on. It's not necessarily what you see, it's the thought behind it. (yah, yah, I'm getting too serious about this - but this is what I have to deal with in my field).
1 person likes this
@dawnald (85135)
• Shingle Springs, California
8 Apr 11
Yeah, you definitely can with Picasso. But most people just look at his more abstract stuff, say "huh?" and move on...
@hardworkinggurl (37063)
• United States
8 Apr 11
Might I say she is very intelligent because although I can appreciate good art, abstracts to me look exactly how she describes it.
lol, I too have said the same about many of the art abstracts I have seen. Let her know that she is not alone with this thought.
Good to hear about the fun and laughter so early, best way to start a day!
@GardenGerty (157546)
• United States
8 Apr 11
I am glad you got your laugh for this morning. I would be laughing at the painting as well. I hope that she does make her million dollars on some pictures or whatever she wants to do.
1 person likes this
@dawnald (85135)
• Shingle Springs, California
8 Apr 11
I can see her going into writing, comedy even, but probably not art. lol
@scarlet_woman (23465)
• United States
16 May 11
tell dearra i know the feeling.
i am an artist,and when i see abstract stuff go for sick amounts of money,it irks me sometimes.especially if it's squiggle trails of obviously dribbled paint.
some abstract can be ok,if it has a real nice balanced assortment of color,but others..i think my cats could do better.
@dawnald (85135)
• Shingle Springs, California
8 Apr 11
I do see abstract paintings that appeal to me, but mostly not.
