coolwhippings

Art makes you think.  

Art - a small yet controversial word encompassing and running the gamut. 

There are two main types:  capital A ‘Art’ and lower case a ‘art’.  Small a art is more the mass produced type aka the decorative arts.  Giclees and posters; that is decorative ‘art’.  It’s decoration, costs $1,000 instead of $15,000 for the original or $20 vs. 2.5 million.  Klimt's 'Hope, II' - art poster vs. the piece in real time at MoMA.  

Giclees should be banned; I haven’t seen one that doesn’t make me cry a little - in the bad-cry way.

If you got your art at IKEA or Homesense, it’s decorative art with a bit of a cringe attached to it.  Let’s face it really, it’s a poster, it’s a ‘pretty’ picture, it matches the drapery.

Does it make you think - Hhm, who am I going to give this to when I move to Oman or when I die?  

Does it make you think of Portuguese Fado about absolute yearning being sung with emotions dripping from crimson lips?

Does it make you think about the balance of freedom, ebbing and flowing on the shore of fairness, power, and equality?

Big Art often makes one stop for a moment.  It isn't easy to ignore.  Jackson Pollock’s ‘One: Number 31’, 1950 makes me cry in a good way.  It makes me think of the scale of someone’s passion and what it takes to do something really fucking fantastic in this life that lasts past one’s death; to think off of the damned stretcher bar of the parameters of one’s life.

There is some big A Art out there that I couldn’t give a second look to, especially in my town where poorly painted pictures of ponies can fetch the same lump of cash I paid for my car. 

So what is the difference?  If it makes you think and look at it in wonder, it’s Art.  If you put it on your wall because it matches the drapes, it’s decoration and it’s minimalized to a ‘complimentary’ piece which is limited to the timeline of the colour of your cushions - the limey green is going out of favour in about 4 years.  Small a art has a shelf life depending on your decor and inevitably it ends up in the dumpster or at Goodwill or a college dorm wall.  

Big A Art is timeless and goes with anything.  It’s almost as if big A Art chooses it’s owner.  It can be seductive  Once you get into it, you might not want to stop.  No calories nor ill health effects - sounds like a healthy enough addiction; I'm in.

Is it Art?:  Jeff Koons

Click here and check his piece called 'Butter'...you'll have to click Easyfun/Ethereal to get to Butter...