Comments on Brockley Central: Brockley Open Studios 2008 round-up

Thanks for such a positive review of our garden wi...

2008-08-01T21:38:00.000+01:00

Thanks for such a positive review of our garden with Jol's sculptures.
The link from Brockley Open Studios website doesn't work, so if anyone is interested our website is:-
www.jdsculpture.co.uk
many thanks

Well, I don't know much about art, but I am intere...

2008-07-10T16:42:00.000+01:00

Well, I don't know much about art, but I am interested in bringing things I consider beautiful into my home.

I've got a Geoff Soan seal (freaked my cats out) from a few years back, and this year would have been very tempted by some of Mimi Soan's pictures if I hadn't already bought a huge Clarissa Porter painting, which I fell in love with at first sight.

I love the Open Studios. I don't find all of it inspiring by any means, but it's great to be able to visit the studios - I saw the pictures of swimmers first hand, and although they wouldn't belong on my walls, I'm glad to have had the opportunity to see them and meet the artist.

you don't have to educate yourself to 'understand'...

2008-07-08T19:24:00.000+01:00

you don't have to educate yourself to 'understand' art, far from it, but if you investigate in a methodical way, or even in an unmethodical way, you may find that there is far more to enjoy than first meets the eye, and you may gain a deeper knowledge of art that can lead to an appreciation of things that you had previously rejected.

Of course, if you're an educated philistine, you're going to enjoy Damien Hirst...

@Anon 17.37. If you have to train yourself to "app...

2008-07-08T18:30:00.000+01:00

@Anon 17.37.

If you have to train yourself to "appreciate" art IMHO it isn't great. All great art is instantly recognisable as art (whether you like it or not) and has layers of hidden depths. Examples (not all of which I like) include Munch's the scream, Magrite's Son of Man, Mozart's Marriage of Figaro, Mathew Bourne's Car Man...

Modern "conceptual" art is just lazy, chosing to ingore the need to be easily understood with hidden depths. You must educate yourself on its backgound to understand it, why?

Note: I'm being careful here not excluding anything from being art, merely classifying something as lazy.

Anon - did you see Kaori Homma's stuff? or perhaps...

2008-07-08T18:03:00.000+01:00

Anon - did you see Kaori Homma's stuff? or perhaps Paul de Monchaux? I'm not so sure you have the educated eye you think you have...

We seem to be heading for a "what is art?" debate....

2008-07-08T17:54:00.000+01:00

We seem to be heading for a "what is art?" debate. Anon 17:37, why does art have to be all deep and meaningful and encourage you to go out and look more deeply at the world or "educate your eye". What's wrong with a pretty picture? I saw plenty of those during Open Studios.

art is only subjective if you choose not to try an...

2008-07-08T17:37:00.000+01:00

art is only subjective if you choose not to try and understand anything about why 'art' is important or not, and indeed, educate your eye to appreciate something thats needs a bit of effort to 'understand' and perhaps enhance your subjectivity.

There is nothing that I have ever seen in the local open studios that would encourage (one) to look seriously at anything else.

Its just very average

Aramaic's great for discussing life, the universe ...

2008-07-08T17:26:00.000+01:00

Aramaic's great for discussing life, the universe and everything but computer says no...

damn..I was just about to post the meaning of life...

2008-07-08T17:08:00.000+01:00

damn..I was just about to post the meaning of life..

Is there even a typeface for Aramaic onyour comput...

2008-07-08T17:02:00.000+01:00

Is there even a typeface for Aramaic onyour computer?

I'll have a go at Aramaic

2008-07-08T16:54:00.000+01:00

I'll have a go at Aramaic

LB – yea but art is subjective and what you may fi...

2008-07-08T15:50:00.000+01:00

LB – yea but art is subjective and what you may find incredible others may not and vice versa. It is my own personal, emotional response to a piece of art that makes me want to make space for it on my wall. You may find my taste mediocre but then I may react in the same way to your choices.

Anyone want to start commenting in Coptic? Ubykh? ...

2008-07-08T15:33:00.000+01:00

Anyone want to start commenting in Coptic? Ubykh? Judeo-Tat, perhaps?

Bea, TJ - Raishyuu no kayoubi, hachi-ji ni, daijou...

2008-07-08T15:13:00.000+01:00

Bea, TJ - Raishyuu no kayoubi, hachi-ji ni, daijoubu desu

I would like to speak up for the wobbly wooden chi...

2008-07-08T14:28:00.000+01:00

I would like to speak up for the wobbly wooden chickens on Manor Ave. I would be very happy for my house to be adorned by one.

As one little boy on the tour said when he saw the wooden animal carvings:

"Now THIS is art."

Yay, comments are fixed, thanks Jon!

2008-07-08T14:12:00.000+01:00

Yay, comments are fixed, thanks Jon!

All I have to say is that I want a wooden dog.

2008-07-08T14:08:00.000+01:00

All I have to say is that I want a wooden dog.

I had no real issue with the word 'adorned', I was...

2008-07-08T14:03:00.000+01:00

I had no real issue with the word 'adorned', I was just drawing attention to what was on my walls.

I have to say I think based on what I've seen I'd agree Nobuo Okawa is one of the best, and most original, of the artists involved. I find a lot of the other stuff is undistinguished; it's not so much that it's amateur, it just doesn't say anything other artists haven't already said, more powerfully, before - this is what I meant by hack-work. It's pleasant, but no more than that. Fair enough if people want to shell out to buy it, but as I said I'd rather spend less and get something incredible, even if it is just an incredible reproduction.

I have a couple of items on my walls from Open Stu...

2008-07-08T14:02:00.000+01:00

I have a couple of items on my walls from Open Studios both of which came in under £50. One a watercolour sketch of a nude by Mary Tambini and the other a woodblock print by someone else whose name I can’t remember. I think that’s a reasonable price to pay for a unique item that I enjoy looking at on a daily basis.

Yes LB some of it is amatuer, but not all. The Bri...

2008-07-08T13:03:00.000+01:00

Yes LB some of it is amatuer, but not all. The British Museum has purchased some of Nobuo Okawa's work for its print collection, for example.

Not quite sure why you took issue with the word 'adorned'?

I don't look at sub-hack work on my walls either - the stuff I've picked up at Open Studios goes very well with the Foujita, D*Face, Aya Takano, Klee, Faile, Isherwood and other stuff I have.

Anyway I was kind of interested in which other local artists others at BC rated.

or my cats

2008-07-08T12:28:00.000+01:00

or my cats

Not supporting local art exactly, but easyart.co.u...

2008-07-08T11:52:00.000+01:00

Not supporting local art exactly, but easyart.co.uk do framed and unframed prints of the masters and more ecclectic stuff. I have a Monet and a Degas in matching frames.

The swimmer does look nice, I wouldn't mind a local artist doing monet inspired art on the skyline of the city of London.

"I wonder how many of our homes are adorned by art...

2008-07-08T11:45:00.000+01:00

"I wonder how many of our homes are adorned by art picked up on a trip around the Open Studios"

Probably very few? My own flat is 'adorned' with cheap reproductions of stuff by Samuel Palmer, Paul Klee, Alfred Stieglitz, Eric Ravilious, Patrick Heron, etc.

I wasn't able to say I ate their crisps, but what the hell, I spent hardly anything and at least I don't have to look at dreary sub-Cezanne / Rothko / Dufy hack-work on my walls.

By the way, if anyone wants to see some real art by a major British artist, the current NPG exhibition is an absolute killer.

OK - TJ, HH hokka no hi itkitai ka? Raishu no kayo...

2008-07-08T10:32:00.000+01:00

OK - TJ, HH hokka no hi itkitai ka? Raishu no kayobi no hachiji doo?

HH, Bea - Kyo wa shigoto no tame ni chotto murri m...

2008-07-08T09:35:00.000+01:00

HH, Bea - Kyo wa shigoto no tame ni chotto murri mitai. Gomenasai -