I just heard a news report about an art exhibit currently being held at the Palace of Versailles. The one man show features art by contemporary artist Jeff Koons. Koons is know for pieces that take pop culture to the extreme. I saw several of his pieces at LACMA and couldn't wipe the smile off my face. My favorite by far is a large silver inflatable rabbit—think Easter toy made to look as if it was made of mylar—carrot and all. There was also a giant plastic lobster and a life size replica of Michael Jackson and his chimp Bubbles (whatever happened to bubbles?) made out of white porcelain.
Apparently some of these pieces and others are residing for a time in the salons of the palace, and it seems some aren't happy about it. I personally think it's close to genius. Juxtaposing the over the top historical decor of the palace with the uber-contemporary Koons pieces is to say the least jarring. I love the comparison of what was a period of opulence for France's royalty with the common items of today Koons uses as inspiration. One person quoted on the news report said "Art is nothing if not an exchange of ideas." I agree. In this case the ideas cross not only borders, language and culture, they cross time.
Check out this link http://www.jeffkoonsversailles.com/fr/
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
It has to start somewhere
Here it is, my first actual blog. Hopefully my ramblings will be interesting to some of you and give pause to others to perhaps see things a little differently than you're accustomed to.
Life as an artist can, as any artist will tell you, be both amazingly satisfying and crushingly frustrating. It's almost an allegory for life itself, isn't it. Who hasn't had periods of prolonged happiness (prolonged and be anything from an hour to weeks or months at a time) and then experienced loss or disappointment. The creative process is much like that. When you have an idea that is clear in your mind and you get it on paper, or canvas or the computer screen, all is well. But, when that same idea refuses to translate to the medium of choice and nothing you do comes to fruition life itself seems dark and hopeless.
Yeah, I just reread that. A little too severe maybe, but that's the creative mindset. We tend to go to extremes pretty fast.
So, now I have a forum in which to share success and frustrations, the light places, the grey places and the dark places. I may not always speak directly about art or the creative process but both will be in the background of these posts.
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