http://hickeyhoo.net/mtnest/2009/08/14/culture/ random snippets from our world Sat, 28 Jan 2012 17:46:45 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://hickeyhoo.net/mtnest/2009/08/14/culture/comment-page-1/#comment-794 Pa Sat, 15 Aug 2009 00:50:28 +0000 http://hickeyhoo.net/mtnest/2009/08/14/culture/#comment-794 Epiphany e-schmiphany, some of it's still crap. For example, the 5ft-plus tall, black-on-black, oil-on-canvas painting inspired only one thought -- "why?". Epiphany e-schmiphany, some of it’s still crap. For example, the 5ft-plus tall, black-on-black, oil-on-canvas painting inspired only one thought — “why?”.

]]> http://hickeyhoo.net/mtnest/2009/08/14/culture/comment-page-1/#comment-793 Ma Fri, 14 Aug 2009 22:16:27 +0000 http://hickeyhoo.net/mtnest/2009/08/14/culture/#comment-793 And I had a cultural epiphany! We started out in the Impressionist gallery, moved on to modern and contemporary art, where we were often scratching our heads or laughing or rolling our eyes and trying to understand what the hell was so significant about some of the incomprehensible art before us. THEN we went on to the European and American classical art and it hit me: Beautiful paintings, exceptional landscapes, lifelike portraits of 19th century people--but they didn't really engage our brains! They were gorgeous, technically proficient renderings of various subjects, but they were largely eye candy! After a lifetime of aversion to contemporary art, I GET IT! I will always love classic artists, and I tried not to drool on the Rembrandts and Rubens and van Dycks, but I can view the contemporary works on a different level, and even appreciate them. Yay! I'll still roll my eyes, and maybe I'll be sneering, but I'll be more likely to appreciate that the artist is forcing me to think about and interpret his work. I'm a slow learner, but maybe there's hope for me yet... And I had a cultural epiphany! We started out in the Impressionist gallery, moved on to modern and contemporary art, where we were often scratching our heads or laughing or rolling our eyes and trying to understand what the hell was so significant about some of the incomprehensible art before us. THEN we went on to the European and American classical art and it hit me: Beautiful paintings, exceptional landscapes, lifelike portraits of 19th century people–but they didn’t really engage our brains! They were gorgeous, technically proficient renderings of various subjects, but they were largely eye candy! After a lifetime of aversion to contemporary art, I GET IT! I will always love classic artists, and I tried not to drool on the Rembrandts and Rubens and van Dycks, but I can view the contemporary works on a different level, and even appreciate them. Yay! I’ll still roll my eyes, and maybe I’ll be sneering, but I’ll be more likely to appreciate that the artist is forcing me to think about and interpret his work. I’m a slow learner, but maybe there’s hope for me yet…

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