Picture: Art by Fischli and Weiss (picture courtesy of www.kunsthaus.ch)
I recently discussed with a friend of mine if one can tell the quality of art or if there is only commercialism and cash washing up at auction houses that creates the illusion of quality. Can one truly value art (and put a price tag on it)? She thought yes, I did not. Then I went to the opening of the Fischli and Weiss show. They are the probably the two most acclaimed Swiss artists. And all for a sudden I saw with my own eyes what truly exceptional art is, it hit me, right there: good art creates sudden emotional responses in people, any people! Good art does not need to be explained or commented, it speaks for itself. And Fischli and Weiss achieve this as hundreds of visitors slowly walked through the show they reacted with astonishment, laughter, awe and surprise. They laughed about the installation “Plötzlich diese Übersicht” (suddenly there was order) and roamed with wonder among the little clay-figures depicting scenes from history and movies, they watched in awe the video “Der Lauf der Dinge” that shows an amazing chain reaction of movement and they drifted to far away places while watching intensively the hundreds of little dia pictures from around the world. All the visitors knew immediately that this art was extraordinary.
PS: And you can hardly get cooler than the artist duo Fischli and Weiss: they attended the opening of their show, listened to the opening addresses by the curator and director and did not say a word themselves! They believe that their art speak from them. Right so!
http://www.kunsthaus.ch/ausstellungen/2007/fischli-weiss/index.html
I've always thought "art" has two components - the idea and the implementation of the idea. These days, there seems to be a proliferation of junk art, mediocre visions and/or minimal craft, particularly anything that wins an award like the Turner prize. Occasionally, you come across something like "The B of the Bang" which makes you go "Wow!" with the vision and technical accomplishment. Or the classics and old masters. Sounds reasonable?
Posted by: Jeff | July 14, 2007 at 11:50 PM