Art My Foot!

In Life! yesterday, there was an article describing the homecoming work of a local artist. Judging by the number of biennales the artist attended, he should be well-known. Hmmm... I wonder why...

Many years back when I was in primary school, I went on an excursion and 1 of the stops was the National Museum. I remember it was my first time there and I was disappointed with the dead and dull environment within. I came across a white table with a huge bundle of black coloured garden hose amongst the other art pieces. Stunned as I was, I asked a "janitor-looking" lady (whom I found out later was the curator) if that was indeed an art piece. I'd thought she was about to wash the floor with the hose.

To my dismay, it turned out to be a real art piece. Fortunately for me, at that young tender age, I did not have to try to sound artsy and think up some literary mambo jambo to express my appreciation of that piece. Vaguely, my immediate response was,"haa?? wa lau eh". Since that day, I never set foot in the museum again.

Reading yesterday's article brought up pent-up feelings in me again. Such art, to me, wastes prime space and gives "artists" a false sense of glamour. While I do not appreciate art in general, looking at Van Gogh's simple works in vibrant colours or Picasso's distorted portraits really make me sit and stare at their works in awe, wondering what was in their minds as they poured their emotions into their works. However, looking at the photo in yesterday's article, I just wonder what is wrong with such artists' minds. Call me a Philistine, but to have an empty hall painted in white with an automatic sliding door installed called a homecoming work is total BULLSHIT to me. If anything, it only reflects, to a layman, that after years for international exposure, Singaporean artists have nothing to show for. There's a chinese saying - "jiao1 bai2 juan4".

To have a journalist take up half a page of the papers to try to analyze the work, to put it on a pedestal and almost worship it makes it so much more saddening. To me, the art world is made up of 3 main parties. The artists, the critics and the rich buyers. The former 2 start the ball rolling while the latter foolishly fuels the process. Quote from article - "In the wake of debate about flagging interest in museums here, the artist needles us thus: Go on, walk out, move along now, there's literally nothing to see." This is evidently someone trying to sound smart in light of the art piece's nothingness. An white-washed empty hall with a sliding door is not art! It's really a case of been-there-done-that. If the work was meant to shock, some artists have done it before and managed to wow the critics. But now, where's the wow factor? It seems more a case of a close relative of "writer's block" - "artist's block". So how does a work like that get played up? There you go, in comes the critic to add substance to nothingness. And you wonder why there is flagging interest in museums here?

Legend has it that in 1 of the English Literature exam in NUS years ago, a very book-smart student who spent hours poring through books to prepare for the paper was dumbfounded when the question read,"Describe Courage". It was not a question where you can use knowledge from a textbook to begin answering. Frustrated, this student wrote 3 words,"This is courage!" and walked out of the exam hall. Fortunately for him, the lecturer was a Caucasian who gave him an "A" for that. Given a local lecturer, he would have been awarded the other end of the grade spectrum.

So, if we are to bring about interest in art to Singaporeans in general, do it genuinely. Let's not fool us with such thoughtless works, perpetuated by critics who put in lots of thoughts to bring intelligence to the works. Otherwise, we will continue to see empty museum halls.


redcocoon