What makes this a work of art?

chris malcolm

chris malcolm

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Old packing sponge tied up with string and pins by Chris Malcolm, on Flickr

You might be tempted to think "I could do that!". But could you establish the provenance of a long artistic career of such significance that the highly qualified pundits of the art world would discuss the place of this work in your artistic development, publish their informed speculations on its relationship to contemporaneous developments in the philosophy of art, and so on? That takes real artistic talent.

[From an exhibition of John Chamberlain at Inverleith House in Edinburgh Botanic Garden.]
 
After Tracy Emmins unmade bed, anything is possible:eek:
 
The creator having an art degree?
 
Is it like a transformer? you cut the string and it springs into the shape of a sponge?
 
Some folks will call anything art if they're told to :lol:
 
What makes it a work of art? intelligence and an open mind?
 
AshleyC said:
What makes it a work of art? intelligence and an open mind?
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Or gullibility.

It's like asking what is a weed?
If it's in your garden and you don't like it, its a weed.
It you love it, it's not.
Doesn't matter if it's a dandelion or an orchid.
 
Boldonian said:
Did the creator also take the terrible picture?
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No, I took the terrible picture. I encountered this item while visiting an exhibition which only permitted hand held photography with no flash. They were serious about it -- they were stopping people who didn't know how to turn off the "flash" in their camera phones. I had to promise them that despite the suspicious fact that I happened to be carrying a tripod and a big bag of photographic gear I would restrict myself to hand held no flash photography for non-commercial use.

This item was in a special section of the exhibition where they had deliberately shuttered all the windows and the only light was extremely dim artificial light, perhaps to try to slow down the aging of this rather delicate photosensitive material. Since I was being followed around by a suspicious caretaker to make sure I obeyed the photography rules I snapped this quickly at ISO 12800. This is the ex-camera jpeg with the lowest noise reduction setting. I prefer to use specialised noise reduction software at higher ISOs, and at this extreme ISO I would usually process carefully from RAW. In the case of this item I didn't think it worth the bother, or indeed appropriate :-)
 
I've seen a lot of modern art I thought was utter rubbish and I often wonder how people were persuaded that it was art and that is should be put on display.

These arguments and discussions will always go on and we're all free to have our own opinions. My opinion is that the sponge isn't art and has no merit, it's total do-do.
 
Its the same as CELEBRITY imho FALSE not lasting and the only test will be IF in 300 years its called a MASTER - we all could guess that it will not be and will most likely be used one day to wash a car or someones caravan.

Yeah Yeah, art is in the eye of the beholder an all that - but we all know what art is and its NOT this. Art is something you feel inside, you make a connection with it and feel something, it moves us and makes us feel that we are somehow capable of feeling enough to produce a work like it IF we had the skill of the artist. yet we still connect.

The art world is often made a fool of by many people........
 
It's not art. It wouldn't look out of place in a bin/public tip. Wish I could find Grayson Perry's handy doodad for deciding what art is and isn't. I think elton johns lawn is involved somewhere :)
 
Leroy4bz said:
After Tracy Emmins unmade bed, anything is possible:eek:
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We've discussed Tracey Emins bed before. It's actually a very intimate portrait, emin laying herself bare. It's her room and bed at the lowest point in her life, at that moment she woke up with a terrible hangover adn looked around and realised she had to change her life. Portraits don't have to be a head and shoulders image. When you saw the exhibit, realised the context, it became a very powerful images. Brave of the artists to put it out there - this is my most vulnerable.
 
I've seen some of John Chamberlains work before in other exhibitions, (moma, Gugenheim etc), usually some form of twisted metal, including some large outdoor installations, so it's interesting that the OP has picked out the one article in a medium for which the artists isn't well known for.

I'd be interested in knowing the story behind this if there was one displayed, as this seems to be more worked, usually his scupltures are formed from looking at the original crushed material rather than a preformed idea.

Not my field of interest, but quite a well known artist in comtempory sculpture.
 
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Byker28i said:
We've discussed Tracey Emins bed before. It's actually a very intimate portrait, emin laying herself bare. It's her room and bed at the lowest point in her life, at that moment she woke up with a terrible hangover adn looked around and realised she had to change her life. Portraits don't have to be a head and shoulders image. When you saw the exhibit, realised the context, it became a very powerful images. Brave of the artists to put it out there - this is my most vulnerable.
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If that's what you saw, good for you. But I just saw a skanky dirty pit!
 
At the risk of sounding pretentious, I think to 'get' a lot of art, you need to get past seeing art as an object and start feeling it as an experience. At that point, those lumps of junk on the floor become something more than the sum of their parts.
 
It's like fashion, someone with some sort of clout (achieved from who knows where), says it's the bees knees and all the sheep follow because they want to be part of the flock.
 
Llamaman said:
I think to 'get' a lot of art, you need to get past seeing art as an object and start feeling it as an experience. At that point, those lumps of junk on the floor become something more than the sum of their parts.
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I think you are onto something here, I spend half my working time on landfill sites, there I see all manner of objects ( some common some not so common) heaped up in disarray,
I'm going start taking images and open a gallery :thumbs:

;)
 
Llamaman said:
At the risk of sounding pretentious, I think to 'get' a lot of art, you need to get past seeing art as an object and start feeling it as an experience. At that point, those lumps of junk on the floor become something more than the sum of their parts.
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Which can be summed up in 3 words, "Heap of S**t". ;)
 
Cobra said:
I think you are onto something here, I spend half my working time on landfill sites, there I see all manner of objects ( some common some not so common) heaped up in disarray,
I'm going start taking images and open a gallery (y)

;)
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Theres been a few artists doing rubbish, I remember some years ago at the photographers gallery (before it moved) seeing an exhibition from a landfil site.
I also have occasion to visit recycling yards, landfills etc. Theres a certain pattern to the piles of bottles, or cans
 
Leroy4bz said:
If that's what you saw, good for you. But I just saw a skanky dirty pit!
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Not just what I saw - that's the whole point behind the installation. You see art isn't just about pretty pictures, which a lot of people struggle to comprehend. I admit I used to until you start reading the descriptions, backgrounds, reasons for that srtwork. People don't just throw something together and say "that'll do" must like photographers don't just wildly point a camera in a vague direction and click a shutter and say "that'll do". Even if most photographer get hung up with the technicalities, we still compose. Comtempory art is just alien to most, the ideas aren't understood, it;s alien. In todays 'click like' instant social media society, people don't seem to have the time to consider other things, hence the pile of s*** or it's crap comment. Ok to dislike, but consider why you don't not just the instant impact and move on.
 
Byker28i said:
Not just what I saw - that's the whole point behind the installation. You see art isn't just about pretty pictures, which a lot of people struggle to comprehend. I admit I used to until you start reading the descriptions, backgrounds, reasons for that srtwork. People don't just throw something together and say "that'll do" must like photographers don't just wildly point a camera in a vague direction and click a shutter and say "that'll do". Even if most photographer get hung up with the technicalities, we still compose. Comtempory art is just alien to most, the ideas aren't understood, it;s alien. In todays 'click like' instant social media society, people don't seem to have the time to consider other things, hence the pile of s*** or it's crap comment. Ok to dislike, but consider why you don't not just the instant impact and move on.
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I read Emin's description and reason behind her bed artwork, changes nothing, still a pile of crap, something thrown together and hoodwinking the sheep is all that it is, but because someone valued something someone did once, they became famous and now everything else they churn out becomes, "Ooh it must be good".
 
Byker28i said:
Theres been a few artists doing rubbish, I remember some years ago at the photographers gallery (before it moved) seeing an exhibition from a landfil site.
I also have occasion to visit recycling yards, landfills etc. Theres a certain pattern to the piles of bottles, or cans
Click to expand...
I hope they trapped and released a few rats as well to make it really authentic :thumbs:
 
nilagin said:
I read Emin's description and reason behind her bed artwork, changes nothing, still a pile of crap, something thrown together and hoodwinking the sheep is all that it is, but because someone valued something someone did once, they became famous and now everything else they churn out becomes, "Ooh it must be good".
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Fair enough you don'y like it. Comtempory art requires some thinking and at times acceptance. There's a lot I don't understand yet, but can see the value of this particular piece as a portrait. As comtempory art goes this one is actually an easy entry point. probably why it's often brought up as an example.
 
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If I can do it, it's not art

My daughter wanted to go to some art galleries as she's on course for a A or A* in art so we took her to the Tate in Liverpool , then the walker art gallery.

I realise art is subjective but I looked in disbelief at the exhibits in the Tate, just weird

The walker however was completely different , some stunning works of art , I stood and looked at one for 10 minutes amazed at the level of detail the artist had managed to paint.

It was a painting about 8ft x 6ft of a woman laying down with 2 small children looking at her, it was almost photographic in its detail

That's art, not some paint tipped out of a bucket from 10ft high while somebody rides a bike through it
 
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