Having more or less a Scientific bias to my thinking, life for me is full of uncertainty. Sometimes I envy those who, with their invisible man who moves in mysterious ways, as life is fully explained in the instruction manuals. For most of us though there are no sets of instructions and we must choose our way and live with the consequences.
One of my issues lies in a fundamental question, that being, What is Art? Apart from my flippant definition that it is what you can get away with, I really do find it hard to determine exactly what a great work of art really is. For some, paintings by Mark Rothko are seen as the bees knees, and others actually like the work of Tracey Emin and the Britart movement. There are plenty who will pay a lot of money to own things because they are attached to a famous name or label.
Art is largely in the eye of the beholder, and what moves one may leave another stone cold. Many people love to be surrounded by artwork, some because they clearly appreciate it, while others do so in order to be seen as having taste. What one displays on ones walls says something about the person I guess.
For some, Art is about making the beholder think or feel, whether that may be a positive or negative emotion, and this can apply to painting, music, sculpture or performing arts. I have certainly been moved by music and theatre but cannot recall being moved by a painting. Oh I appreciate paintings, and the tremendous skill that goes into the representation of ideas on canvas, but I could no more weep in front of a painting than slash it with a knife. In my view, some people are very precious about painting, to the point of being pretentious.
The point of this diatribe is that yesterday, for the second time, i went to see James Cameron's AVATAR in 3D. Ok it is a thin plot and the storyline is pretty predictable. There are no great performances, but the whole package is in my opinion a work of art that stands up against any other. It is a beautiful visual feast as well as conveying a message that is subject to any number of interpretations. It does make you think and produces a feast of emotional responses.
There are plenty that will disagree with me about this but i really don't care. I may be shallow and uneducated but I know what i like and there is plenty that I know that I do not like.
4 comments:
I absolutely agree with you on Avatar. You are right..the plot is thin and predictable...but I was amazed by the visual effects especially by scenes in the forest with butterflies and birds....James Cameron have opened new possibilities in film making. XXX Lilly
Thanks for reading :0)
i, too, loved Avatar... but, unlike you, i have wept before a painting.. i cant remember what it was, as it was some years ago.. but i do remember it tearing at my gut.
i recently went to the Van Gogh museum in Holland, and stood in the middle of one of the rooms, tears pouring down my cheeks, surrounded by his colour and essence.. one of my great memories...
must be a girl thing :-)
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