Opinion

catharine@kingcome.co.uk

My work can be termed contemporary realism i.e. my style is realist and I'm doing it now. One of the things that annoys me about the art world and its institutions today, is their hijacking of the word "Contemporary" and the skewing of its literal meaning to exclude any style that is reminiscent of the art practiced and taught before the student revolution of the 1960s.The effect of this is that now this type of work is usually simply ignored by the critics, or if mentioned at all, is spoken of in a dismissive, or derogatory manner. 

Sometimes it is worse than this. In one instance, on a respectable BBC arts programme, the presenter hinted that a return to realism in art could be viewed as a sinister indication of a return to far-right politics and Fascism simply because Hitler's taste in art happened to be realist! Although as a realist artist I was deeply offended by this remark, it has occurred to me since that, in a convoluted way, it may be a positive sign that the supporters of "Contemporary" art do not feel as secure as they seem if they need to use such tactics? Maybe there is some light at the end of the tunnel for those of us who favour a return to art that the public can relate to, appreciate, and be moved by.

I am often asked by intelligent, bewildered, non-artists for my opinion of what is presented as art today, work that at best is meaningless to them, and worst seems deliberately to insult their intelligence. Rather than write at length my own thoughts on this subject, I would like to recommend Petrified Revolutionaries, an excellent, well written article published in the August /September 2001 edition of Art Bulletin, the magazine of the Artists Association of Ireland. It was written by Simon McGarr, a young Irish graduate with an interest in the visual arts. Following a summer working beside the Douglas Hyde Gallery in Dublin, one of the foremost "Contemporary" galleries in Ireland, he became frustrated at what he considered the low quality of the pieces shown in such a prime space, and was prompted to think about why they were being chosen. Click on title below to read this article.

Or if you would like to comment on anything I have said, click on my email address.

Petrified Revolutionaries by Simon McGarr catharine@kingcome.co.uk Return to Home