|
"THE BIG SHOW SHOULD NOT BE DESIRED"
Having had a painting selected for a large provincial show, held in
a huge curling-rink-turned-gallery, I gained some rather strong
opinions first hand.
My initial excitement and pleasure was to turn into disappointment.
On opening night, the artists and the public were kept waiting
outside while the dignitaries and conveners had their special social
event inside.
Once we were let in to see the show, it occurred to me that a lot of
the work had been done in anticipation for this yearly event, to fit
into a suggested theme rather than the subject that the artist would
naturally paint. The show was so large, that visual exhaustion set
in about a quarter of the way through. It was a kind of optical
marathon.
After filling out forms in duplicate and triplicate, delivering and
collecting, then delivering again, uncrating, assembling great
conglomerations of `art', erecting panels and lighting... it lasted
only three days. When I visited again there were about three of us
wandering through the curling rink mausoleum. I concluded that a lot
of people had done a lot of work, and spent a lot of money... for
what I wasn't sure of... and not least of all the artists.
"The Big Show should not be desired. All over the world art has
been made into a three-ringed circus with salons. All who are
familiar with modern art history know the `salon pictures' as a
special and very overgrown and mongrel breed." (236)
235. Robert Henri, The Art Spirit, (Toronto, Canada, Fitzhenry and
Whiteside Ltd.1984), p. 131
236. ibid., p. 131
|
