Can blowing raspberries be classed as art?

[Rod Paradise]

I reckon they have a forum somewhere in cybersapce, on this forum they are all having a little competiton to see whats the most stupid thing they can get into a muserm/gallery.

Its the only logical explination!

Flushy you might be right, but I reckon they also judge by how much they are awarded to do said 'art'.

[rivered]

This kinda thing annoys me soooo much.  What is their talent / skill that makes what they do any better than what a 5 year old does every day in the playground?  

When people watch this kinda thing with a thoughtful look on their face, what are they actually thinking?  how on earth can a guy blowing raspberries be thought provoking?  

Until someone explains to me what makes all this nonsense worth hundreds of thousands of pounds, and worth of continuing support from charities / lotteries when the money could go to what i consider much worthier causes, I am going to continue to be frustrated by it all.  

Talent is a guy that can capture a moment on a canvass/sculpture - that's what I consider to be art, and I like and am open to a number of styles of art, not just realism.  I love sitting down and having a sketch done by a characature artist - those guys are great.  

Please help me understand all this - I'd love to be more open minded about it all, but it's very hard....

[Sark79]

Talent is a guy that can capture a moment on a canvass/sculpture - that's what I consider to be art, and I like and am open to a number of styles of art, not just realism.  I love sitting down and having a sketch done by a characature artist - those guys are great. 

I agree.  I would love to be able to draw, but sadly I am completely crap.  There was a picture I did when I was about 6 yrs old. It used to hang in my Grans house for years.  The technique I brought to the work was called "Insane Scribbling". That was more art to me than a guy blowing raspberries.  It was an absolutely terrible picture and what made it worse was for years afterwards all of my grans bingo friends used to say  " ayyeee Sussie you have an artist there "  lol

[Tonji]

Its purely a matter of taste, in the same way Music covers a wide spectrum, say from Classical to Death Metal & Jazz to Boy Band Pop. So Art also covers an equally wide spectrum. I confess to not understanding why raspberry blowing would or should be considered Art, but I do like Damien Hirst & Tracey Emin's work, & thats been criticised in the media. I'll always pop into Tate Modern if I'm near there, its a great place, some of it is incomprehensible, but alot is just wonderful.

[rivered]

Its purely a matter of taste, in the same way Music covers a wide spectrum, say from Classical to Death Metal & Jazz to Boy Band Pop. So Art also covers an equally wide spectrum. I confess to not understanding why raspberry blowing would or should be considered Art, but I do like Damien Hirst & Tracey Emin's work, & thats been criticised in the media. I'll always pop into Tate Modern if I'm near there, its a great place, some of it is incomprehensible, but alot is just wonderful.

Yep I see where you're coming from, although I'd say that the music equivalent of this type of art would be someone randomly bashing a load of keys on a piano (or blowing raspberries down a trumpet!!).  That type of music would never sell / get support so why does this art?  Other types of music all require talent (well maybe with the excption of bob the builder-esque songs which are just commercially driven). 

I can see the appeal of some of Hirst's / Emin's work, but I'm still completely lost when it comes to the bulk of 'modern' art.

[matt674]

I'd say that the music equivalent of this type of art would be someone randomly bashing a load of keys on a piano

And what may i ask is wrong with that - i take it you've heard me play before.......



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[Sark79]

    n1

[suzanne]

I used to live in Spain and took a trip to the Salvador Dali museum one day.

I have always been a HUGE fan so I was not going to be put off with the horrendous journey to get to this little village in the middle of nowhere.

The building itself was very impressive, the courtyard in particular was breathtaking.

In amoungst all these awesome pieces of art there was a corridor with about 10 canvasses on the wall. Each one looked like a couple of carpet tacks had been placed on a white canvas and then the canvas spray painted to leaving the shape of the tacks white.....and that was it. I stared at these pictures for a long time and I just didn't get it.  

[I, Zimbra]

Even in music, sometimes debate can rage pretty hard. Does anyone here recall Lou Reed's "Metal Machine Music" album?

The problem here as I see it is that a lot of modern music is commerical, in that it is designed to appeal to a particular audience. Boy Bands, for example - there is a cynical marketing strategy at work here, based on kids' pocket money and how music companies can get hold of it.

Art doesn't necessarily fall into that trap - for better or for worse, the meaning of what constitutes good art has changed over the years. These days, art constitutes an idea, rather than a physical "thing"; it is possible for someone to be an artist without actually being able to sculpt, paint, or what-have-you.

I agree that some kinds of modern art are ludicrous. This is usually because I don't subscribe to the ideas behind them, or believe that the idea is truly worth the contemplation (Most Turner stuff falls into this category for me). I also believe that being an artist is more than just generating ideas; I have to believe that the execution of the idea requires some form of skill or talent that the average untrained person cannot replicate.

A painter, for example, can have the idea of a particular 'scene' that he or she wants to paint - but also implied is the skill and talent (honed by practice) that it takes to make that vision a reality.

Finally, we have the concept of authorship. There was a time, when artists did not create their works alone - rather they were masters, and had apprentices, and supervised the creation of the painting, sculpture, building, whatever. I think it was either Leonardo or Michelangelo who re-wrote that concept, by doing most if not all of their work themselves, without apprentices. So we get the modern idea of the artists as sole 'author' of their work. Now, with works like the one mentioned by ACE2M (thought up by the artist, but constructed by someone else), the concept of authorship in modern art is also changing.

In the end, human beings have always struggled with the definition of art, and even more so with criteria for what good art should be. Art evolves as we evolve. All any of us can say for sure, is what we like, and what we don't - although I suppose it helps if we can articulate the reasons why...

[Sark79]

I used to live in Spain and took a trip to the Salvador Dali museum one day.

I have always been a HUGE fan so I was not going to be put off with the horrendous journey to get to this little village in the middle of nowhere.

The building itself was very impressive, the courtyard in particular was breathtaking.

In amoungst all these awesome pieces of art there was a corridor with about 10 canvasses on the wall. Each one looked like a couple of carpet tacks had been placed on a white canvas and then the canvas spray painted to leaving the shape of the tacks white.....and that was it. I stared at these pictures for a long time and I just didn't get it. 

I like Dali's  "Melting Clocks" painting

Jack Vettriano's paintings  The Singing Butler and The Cigar Girl are great. I have the calendar 

[JungleCat03]

I also like Tracey emmin's work.

Before she rose to prominence, I never realised that everytime i left my bed unmade with  socks and pizza cartons round it, I was not in fact being a scruffy, disorganised teenager but was merely parading the magnificence of my artistry as I lobbed my keks across my bedroom.

[bobby1]

Can I be awkward and say that art is a most overrated thing.......

[Sark79]

Can I be awkward and say that art is a most overrated thing.......

I am not a huge fan. But I wish I was able to draw.  I mess up stick men

[ifm]

Remember when someone nailed 2 blocks of wood together and the art world went all doolally fawning over the "artist"?
The Sun nailed 2 blocks of wood together and tried to sell it to the Tate but they said it was't art!!!

[Sark79]