Pinky Says:

I am delighted that art historian and collector Pinky Kase has offered to do guest articles from time to time. Pinky has a Master’s Degree in art history from the University of Missouri Kansas City. She is the author of UMKC Monographs and Helicon Nine Articles on Art History. She has served on the boards of the Nelson-Atkins Museum and UMKC Gallery of art and is a past President of the Midwest Center for the Literary Arts, Inc.

Pinky says:

Art can have many meanings and avenues of expression.  I have recently come face to face with a number of pejorative opinions about modern art.  To my understanding of the term art these are not kind, understanding or relevant.  But let me cite a few of them.  Art is deceitful cleverness.  It is a human effort to imitate, supplement, alter or counteract the work of nature.  It is a non-scientific branch of learning–one of the liberal arts.

And in their place I would like to stand behind several definitions
that I have espoused and that appeal to me, to wit:
Art is the window through which I gaze upon reality.
Art is communication by means of line, form and color.
Art is great when it turns a corner in the process and thinking of art.

Art in general is seldom about life or not quite about life.
Art is discovery and design and reasoning with chaos.
Or, as Pascal so aptly put it –The heart (or art) has reasons that
reason knows nothing of.

Now for what is new and current.

Museums are hard put to continue their objectives in the throes of
the continuing recession.  Many are forced to dip into their
endowments witness the almost total demise of that of the Museum of
Contemporary Art in Los Angeles
.
Riding to the rescue was Eli Broad
with a bequest of $30,000,000 to the museum.  Many in the art world
are dismayed that one benefactor will thus be in the catbird seat to
dominate policy and determine selection of a leader and curators for
the collection.  Time will tell only after the winnowing down process
is completed.  Throughout history the benefactors have played an
important and often controlling role in the creation of art. More on this later.

If you would like to be a guest blogger here, send me your ideas.

Space Dust by James Rosenquist

4 Responses to Pinky Says:

  • Glenn Haynes says:

    I think the same thing can be said about modern music compared to the “elevator” music of my era. I saw my first opera last year and promptly lost it over Renee Fleming’s performance in her ravishing performance in Thais which certainly cannot be considered “elevator” or even “modern” music.
    And…I am tickled that our generation can even acknowledge the current trends in the arts. After seeing AVATAR (in 3D) and enjoying it to the point we are seeing it for the second time this weekend (under the pretext of celebrating our eleven year old Grandson’s birthday) there may be hope for us after all.
    The current obsession with “texting” might truly be considered an art “form” by our younger generation with their electronic digital toys (I’m as guilty as they with my iPhone and am guily of texting at the urging of my lovely spouse).

    Pinky? Comments?

  • Cathy Thomas says:

    I love your definition of art as a “window through which I gaze upon reality.” One of my favorite things is standing in front of a piece of art and opening myself enough for it to thrill me. It can be the smallest thing but it will reach out and touch me and I love it. I especially like doing that with modern art, which can be challenging. I used to find it boring (Rothko – nothing going on here!) or too chaotic. But one day I stopped in front of the Rothko at the Nelson and decided to stayed put until I felt I understood why this painting was in a major museum. And I fell in love with it, truly saw the richness of the color (one color), the purity of the canvas. That experience has opened my mind to all kinds of art. Now the masters and more conventional art is challenging to me, but I’m willing to do the same with those pieces and see what they have to tell me.

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