On R5 earlier, there was a funny interview with Martin Creed. Creed is an "artist" who has recently been successful in having his work included in the Tate Modern. His Work No 401 is a recording of himself blowing raspberries into a microphone for 9 minutes. This is then played on a loop. Tate Modern staff have complained because they find it annoying ( I don't blame them ).
I am not an expert when it comes to art, so I am not going to criticise this artist or any other. However I must admit I prefer what I would describe as "proper" art. By proper art I am referring to a picture or painting. But of course what one person terms art can be very different to another.
Creed has had other art successes. He is a turner prize winner with his Work No 227: The Lights Going On and Off. This is where a set of lights were programmed to turn on and off at set intervals. Mr school physics teacher showed me a similar "work of art" during an electronics class once.
Perhaps I am just getting old, but I much prefer a painting of a lake with swans or even some of Derren Browns caricatures found on his website than this type of art. There must be a level of talent there that I am not artistic enough or intelligent enough to appreciate. The artist mentioned his desire to express himself and the blowing of raspberries allowed him to achieve this.
It sounds like I am criticising, I am not. I think there are certain things in life that people arrogantly think they could do as well. My first thought was " I could do that. That isn't art ". But after thinking about it, maybe I couldn't. Perhaps this type of art is something that 50 years from now will be admired rather than ridiculed. If I am unfortunate enough to have to listen to any of the music from the Top 40, I normally think to myself something along the same lines " God that's bloody awful. I could do that better than him ". But recently, I have began to change my opinion. It isn't my cup of tea, but millions of others think it is great. They can't all be stupid.
Each to their own I guess. I will stick with my Lake and swans paintings and keep listening to a WHO album for now though.
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