Just back from 'The Great British Art Debate' lecture wherein two middle aged artists loudly postulated over such questions as 'Should Art be good for you ?' and 'Should the public have a say about what goes in to museums?' etcetera etcetera. famous artists were name dropped, critics were quoted (Dave Beech, a lecturer at Chelsea who tutors Selma? am I right?) was one of them, as well as Greenburg.
Anyway i had to leave before the end as it was starting to piss me off, as debates like that often do. How do we make art accessible without dumbing down, commercialising it for an (Art) uneducated viewer (EG Tate museums hordes of tourists filing through day in day out)
I mean at the end of the day you have to throw down your cards and say ; its just a matter of opinion.
Selma gave me a bit of porcelain face cast yesterday :
next time i can get in to the 3D workshop and get to the sand blaster, i'll sand blast that face (the idea is that it will look quite cool)
Here is Selma's blog so you can see how she gets herself in gear to make things like above.
As i have (hopefully rather ironically so) decided on an abstracted floral design based on narcissus flowers to decorate the porcelain faces fingers crossed! I'll share with you the story of narcissus the Greek myth
Echo, a nymph, falls in love with a vain youth named Narcissus, who was the son of the blue Nymph Liriope of Thespia. The river god Cephisus had once encircled Liriope with the windings of his streams, and thus trapping her, had seduced the nymph, who gave birth to an exceptionally beautiful boy. Concerned about the welfare of such a beautiful child, Liriope consulted the prophet Tiresias regarding her son's future. Tiresias told the nymph that Narcissus would live to a ripe old age, "if he didn't come to know himself."
When he had reached "his sixteenth year", (fifteen years of age, by modern reckoning) every youth and girl in the town was in love with him, but he haughtily spurned them all. He believed them not to be worthy of his love.
One day when Narcissus was out hunting stags, Echo stealthily followed the handsome youth through the woods, longing to address him but unable to speak first. When Narcissus finally heard footsteps and shouted "Who's there?", Echo answered "Who's there?" And so it went, until finally Echo showed herself and rushed to embrace the lovely youth. He pulled away from the nymph and vainly told her to leave him alone. Narcissus left Echo heartbroken and she spent the rest of her life in lonely glens, pining away for the love she never knew, until only her voice remained. With Narcissus unchanged and still scornful of those who sought him, a spurned virgin prayed to Rhamnusia (also known as Nemesis), to take revenge on Narcissus by making him feel unrequited love.
[4]Nemesis heard this prayer and sent Narcissus his punishment. He came across a deep pool in a forest, from which he took a drink. As he did, he saw his reflection for the first time in his life and fell in love with the beautiful boy he was looking at, not realizing it was himself. Eventually, after pining away for a while, he realized that the image he saw in the pool was a reflection of himself. Realizing that he could not act upon this love, he tore at his dress and beat at his body, his life force draining out of him. As he died, the bodyless Echo came upon him and felt sorrow and pity. His soul was sent to "the darkest hell" and the narcissus flower grew where he died. It is said that Narcissus still keeps gazing on his image in the waters of the river Styx.
[5]
