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If you need proof of the sheer wankery of modern art, it is evident in the way that Scottish artist Jack Vettriano is treated by the art establishment. His crime----apart from cribbing some images from an art book a girlfriend gave him---is creating recognisable images that are popular with the public, and sell fairly well for a living, non-wank artist. One of the national gallery directors almost vomited in indignation when asked whether Jack's work would ever be bought by them.

Modern art should be high concept----too clever for the plebs to understand. Oh, and the Turner Awards should be sponsored by Kleenex.

I can see why you like his work. I wonder if anyone else does here on BGAFD?



Mike.

Mrs Strictly is a big Vettriano fan.

JV has been an inspiration, whilst forcibly rejecting establishment claims that his work is porn.

Every painting tells a story and maybe some of the togs posting on this forum could further enhance their creative output by looking at his work. Proof that images can portray pure eroticism based on the anticipation of what's about to happen rather than capturing the explicit act itself !!



Alan

Strictly,

The only criterion for art lovers is to choose what you like. I have noticed that not many English people have any original paintings on their walls and seem to prefer prints of dead artists! How many people buy contemporaty art?

Mike.

Al,
Anticipation is what eroticism is all about. I agree that on the contemporary porn scene there is too much "wall to wall" sex and that they get into it far too quickly. Ironically most veiwers want a story and a beginning middle and an end but very rarely get one. Content seems to be determined by the porn business itself and not by the customers.

Too much hard sex and predictability is an overkill and the action becomes boring by repetition. It is obvious that the majority of pornographers do not have a script only a routine.

Mike.

Well said Mike,

Let's hope the pornographers read this post and take note; maybe this thread is on the wrong forum!

Alan

Sorry, but I find the whole Vettriano argument slightly askew. It's as if by dent of popularity he somehow warrants greater artistic status, which is never really how it works in any creative field.

Besides, why would his acolytes want the patronage of the so-called establishment who they often ridicule for promoting Emin and the like? If they're really so certain of his worth what's the point?

And don't forget there are clear reasons why Vettriano isn't considered more. His work is seen by many as a confection; empty images despatched with a standard, professional illustrator slickness. Mere decoration for waiting rooms etc. Nothing that bad as such, but ultimately nothing much at all. The exploration, expression, and inventive use of materials that goes some way to characterising contempory art is nowhere to be found.

Truth is, there are very many good, successful artists who don't figure greatly on the Saatchi/Serota radars the media keeps its beady eye on. They simply carry on with their own creative course regardless, as they know it's the work that counts, and not the praise and attention.

I was using him as an example of what is loathed by the art establishment. I can understand the chocolate box criticism, and also accept the fact that public approval and sales do not equate to acclaim. Sir Joshua Reynolds was the most popular painter of his day, and pretty much decided that art must be in the classical style, leaving little room for innovators like Blake and later Turner.

What JV does have is a style that makes one wonder what else is going in in the picture. Emin's skanky bed and Hirst's butched sharks and sheep are incapable of that.

While I can embrace the likes of pointillism, op art and the cartoons of Liechtenstein, for example, in the end I like to see something that moves me and makes me think. And that isn't a video "installation" of someone switching lights on and off.

Bring back the Pre-Raphaelites!

Al,

No it is on the right forum because it is not promotional only critical. Porngraphic film-makers have been pushed into a ghetto and the only way out is to move towards mainstream film-making. Not too much but halfway.

You don't need enormous budgets but imagination.

Mike.