Even though in my opinion every piece of art should stand by its own merit without any need for explanation, I do feel that the process and discourse can be invaluable to express for the artists growth and just incase anyone is interested. I heard once (cant remember exactly where) an analogy that made a point that if a comedian tells a joke but noone laughs, he can explain it and people might say, "yea thats funny i guess" but he still didnt tell the joke well to begin with! This is a big reason why I cant stand a lot of the crap that gets shoved out there these days and takes shelter as "contemporary art" which seems to protect it. Seems to me noone wants to call these artists on their bullshit because that would make them "uncultured" and "closeminded" hey I argue that any artist who puts art out there has to be willing to humble accept criticism, and they shouldnt need to write a book to explain a single work they have in some gallery.
Anyways- so heres what im thinking about working with. The westminster dog show to me is an odd thing. As kids we would argue "my dog is cooler than your dog" and "my dog could beat up your dog" just like how we totally saw a laprachaun this morning on the way to school. This dog show seems to me like the ultimate evolution of that mindset, adults trying to beat eachother out on what may be the most trivial competition ever televised. These people put their dogs out to show off, but its not really about the dogs its about the trainers and owners, and absolutely everyone knows it. So why even keep up the charade? These people are crazy, parading around their pets who they have trained to amuse people. But on the other hand, these people love what they do and they aren't hurting anybody (except maybe the pride of the dogs) so I guess it could be a lot worse. True these people have passion and I bet if you bumped into one in public they would be perfect nice people, but Im still unnerved by it all.
It seems to me this whole event is a bastardization of what having a pet is really about. Why can't a seeing eye dog win an award for giving his life to help a disabled person keep up in our busy world? Why can't a nineteen year old collie get credit for being the last thing keeping an old man company long after his wife and friends have passed away? Why can't a police dog be awarded for putting its life on the line in a situation too dangerous for a human? Why cant a kid from the farm bring in his puppy and win an award for the pure amount of unconditional love he has for his best friend in the world?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment