After my last post about Alexander Calder, I heard from some people who love Calder's work as I do, along with others who don't get the same reaction from it. Well, that's just fine. Life would be pretty boring if we all liked the same thing. Having spent time at the National Gallery and Smithsonian recently, I was treated to some amazing artwork. Not all of it was to my liking - but that's OK. Seeing it gives one an appreciation for the broad range of "accepted" forms of art.
And what about art that doesn't find its way into museums? What about the artistic expressions of ordinary (and extraordinary) individuals whose work isn't traditional or even something that could be put into a museum? No doubt you've seen work sent around the internet by the amazing chalk artist Julian Beever or the paper cut artist Peter Callesen. If you haven't seen them, do check out them out.
Artistic expression comes in many forms. What about 32,470 painted eggshells as artistic expression? Eggshelland represents 52 years of devoted creative spirits sharing their vision with children and adults. It has touched so many people that an award-winning documentary was filmed about the experience. Would scholars call some of these things art? I can't say - but they're pretty cool... and beauty is in the eyes of the beholder anyway.
Wow! I had not seen the work of Julian Beever. Thanks for posting it. Amazing! But if I had to choose, I like wearable art the best!
ReplyDelete