Some days ago a friend of mine told me that she had to deal with some sort of memorable question,
" Is it possible to make good art if you are a bad person? "
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| Francis Bacon, Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion, oil, 1944 |
• Think about the above-cited question: is it tricky?
• Who can tell a painter was a bad person? What's the of evidence we base our conclusions upon? Gossip? Personal experience? Jealousy? Unfulfilled desire? Sensationalist news from the press?
• Can a person be either good or bad? Isn't this notion reductionist and simplistic? Aren't there any possible transitions between good and bad? What about ambivalence? What about impulse? What about mistakes?
• And what makes art good at all? What is the valid criteria to differentiate a good from a bad work? Aren't there any transitional possibilities in between?
Last but not least, what is art? Anything goes? What about the Emperor's New Clothes syndrome nowadays? What about today's most promoted works? Are they art? Are they not? Why?
TO BE and/or NOT TO BE
Which of the following contemporary works can be considered art? And which do you think cannot? Importantly, how can you justify your viewpoint? According to which criteria?
1. Mariano Akerman, Some Questions, watercolor, 2011
2. Ryden, St Barbie, 2010
3. Wim Delvoye, Linda, stuffed tatoed pig, 2006
4. Author unknown, Extraordinary, 2010
5. Giampaolo Bertozzi & Stefano Dal Monte Casoni, Grottesca, glazed ceramic, 2009
6. Peter Fischli & David Weiss, Simple Science, from Équilibres series, photograph, 1984-87
7. Ghoulish Productions, Parasite, latex Halloween mask, United Kingdom, c. 2010-11
8. Author unknown, Smiling garden gnome with flamingo-lamps, photograph, United Kingdom, 2009
9. Mariano Akerman, Manual, from Between the Whole and the Parts series, digital image, 2011
10. Anonymous, Hand, c. 2007
11. Javier Inga, Envy, Argentina, 2008
12. Julia deVille, Cat Rug, 2008
13. Vita Amara, Sometimes you don't know just where to hide (A volte non si sa proprio dove nascondersi), Italy, 2008
14. Anonymous, Il cache un cadavre pendant 10 ans, grass-sofa, France, 2010
15. Crack Two, Vienna, photograph, Austria, 2009
16. Barbara Kruger, Thinking of You, collage, c. 1980s
17. Marko Mäetamm, Bleeding House #2, oil on canvas, 2004
18. JN, FantasPorto, 31st Oporto International Horror Film Festival, 2011
Conceived and presented by Mariano Akerman at the Seminaire des Arts, Islamabad, 28.11.2011 - All Rights Reserved.
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