The ”Is It Art” debate is up and running again in the UK. Unsurprisingly, it involves Martin Creed, a conceptual artist who most famously won the Turner Prize in 2001 for his installation of an empty room with a light switching on and off.
Well, Creed is back, this time with a work involving runners sprinting the length of Tate Britain’s neo-classical galleries (86 metres in all) at 30 second intervals. 50 people earning $20 an hour will keep “Work No 850″ going for the next four months or so, and the gallery has warned visitors not to interfere with the sprinters. It will be interesting to see how they cope on a crowded Sunday afternoon.
Asked if he thought the work pretentious, the artist pointed out that, literally speaking, it was not, as these people were not pretending to run, but were actually doing it.
The Times produced a “for” and “against” column to discuss the artistic merits of Work No 850. In the Creed corner, its art critic Rachel Campbell-Johnston calls it “silly, reckless, exhilirating and wonderful” and says “it makes you feel more alive. What more can you want?”. In the skeptics’ corner, David Lee of art publication The Jackdaw counters: “The concepts in most conceptual art are frequently extremely small ones barely worth the illustration. Now, we are presented with a work in which there is not even a concept.” He dismisses the piece as a stunt to raise the profile both of the gallery and of the artist.
So, well before this year’s Turner Prize exhibition at none other than Tate Britain sparks the “Is It Art” debate all over again, where do you stand on Creed’s creation?
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5 comments so far
In my opinion it is not enough just to think of something unusual, unprecedented or bizarre, and then have it executed by spending money hiring people or equipment. For something to be “art” it must not only be unique, but must be uniquely capable of execution at least principally by the “artist”, whether it’s music, a painting, a sculpture, or anything else. If somebody gave me a million pounds, I could fill my backyard with tomato soup to a depth of six feet, and then have the whole thing airlifted into the middle of Parliament Square, but it wouldn’t be art. Would it?
- Posted by MatthewI’m obviously running in a totally wrong direction (http://markdotzler.com).
- Posted by Mark Dotzler“Asked if he thought the work pretentious, the artist pointed out that, literally speaking, it was not, as these people were not pretending to run, but were actually doing it.”
As much as I like modern and live art, that paragraph just cracked me up. Either way you look at it, it is somewhat pretentious - question is, does the work overcome that and still be brilliant?
- Posted by Barak ShelefThis is an example of the worst that the art world has to offer and why more and more money is being funneled out of the NEA in the USA.
I like, no check that, I love art. But it is increasingly hard to explain to average taxpayers why we are funding artists like this. There is no talent, no socially redeeming quality, you cant buy it, or wrap it. Art doesn’t need to do this necessarily but at the very least, at its most basic level, isnt art supposed to be about the viewer more so than the author?
It seems nowadays “artists” can pick up a newspaper from the ground and say its art, piss in a jar and place a crucifix in it and call it art, turn on and off a light bulb and call it art and now we are stunning the art world with the most revolutionary new form in art history, one that will rival the art Gods and that is….some dude running in a circle.
The sad fact is that the leaders in the art world have grown up being told that censorship is bad and that every generation experienced it, so their response is to think everything is art and not draw the line at anything, despite its most absurd claims and obvious qualities.
Additionally, the space that is being wasted by this no-talent artist, is preventing someone out there from showcasing the next Picasso, or Di Vinci or art movement that would do what art has always done for humanity.
- Posted by Dan "the New Art Hater"In a word…..NO!!!
- Posted by Dave