Yesterday I went with Art Burshy to the opening of a new exhibition. And Art seemed quite pleased that some of his paintings had been added to the collection; he was almost showing his joy when we walked towards the gallery.
I could not have imagined how quickly this would turn around just some 10 minutes later.
So what happened?
Well, I was just getting a drink, actually looking for some champagne, as that for me is one of the incentives of going with Art to these exhibitions.
I then saw Art in front of a small art work. It was a tiny white cube that was exhibited just next to a art work of Art. Several expressions crossed his face while observing the cube from really up close. I looked around but detected no security staff that would be at the point of intervening. I approached Art and asked naively "well Art, do you like it?"
Art straightened his back, and looked me straight into my eyes "well Maurice, what do you think?".
These are the trickiest moments with Art; whatever you say will be wrong.
Say that you don't really know and he will say you are a coward, no original thinker and more, until you finally surrender. If you say you like it he will be asking why, what is so special about it, until he finds enough elements to prove you wrong. If you say you don't like it, probably is even more dangerous as he will call you barabaric if it turns out to be a master piece in his mind.
So I said to Art "well, I really don't know, what it should be, and why it should be beautiful"...it was risky, but true, and you cant make fun of the truth, can you.
And then...
Art started to speak slowly...
"Did you see the art work next to this white cube? It is my art work.
Now my own art work is a deeper expression of feelings, part of an effort to capture my deeper emotions, using the skills I have carefully constructed the last 35 years, it is meaningful and as a result it can touch people and confront them with my view of reality...
Then you have this white cube next to it... This is an idea, tranformed into a small piece of wood, painted perfectly with white paint. Sure, I read the idea behind it, which is funny, almost interesting, as it is based on Thought, but very close to existing cliches."
Art's head had become a bit more red, and his eyes started look look more angry.
"Then look at the price....it is way more expensive than my art work!
And this is where the art world is going?
Ideas are more important than expression and personal meaningfulness.
Artists delegating all the making to others, only translating an idea into design...
I heard for example of an artist Hamiens Dirt that turns art into business, having people execute the ideas for him, and the bloody bastard earns millions from art...it is a disgrace...and it is the opposite of what art should be..."
Then I made a mistake, mainly fed by my annoyance of Art again turning a nice exhibition into an energy sucking visit...
"Well Art, but why do you give a f*ck...why would you care?
You earn a living with you art, why do you care that others make good money?
Why are you so arrogant that you allow yourself to judge other art works?"
Art became silent, and I wondered if my angry words had touched him...
Then Art calmly spoke:
" well, forgive me for having a dream and a passion of what art is about.
Indeed I do not know everything about art, but I have seen and created enough crap to know what is good.
The role of artists is to reveal a deeper beauty, a beauty that moves people.
I find it disrespectful that people hijack the art and turn it into something superficial, and focused on making money.
But you are right, why would I care if stupid rich people spend loads of money on such crap?
They do turn conceptual art into a business concept, but why should I care.
I wanna go home and make a beautiful drawing with color pencils, going back to my childhood dream before I became obsessed by making 'art'.
And lets take my art work home with us; it does not belong here."
And so Art took his art work off the wall and out we went...
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