artPark

Bring on the Contestants

The submission deadline for Visual Overture Magazine’s quarterly “Featured Emerging Artists” competition has passed.  As the Summer 2011 juror, I now have the very large task of reviewing all the submitted work and grading each one of them.  It will be a total immersion sort of thing.  Very rarely, even for an art professional, does anyone get to have so much art poured over them.  Sensory overload is always a fear, but I plan to pace myself and give each image equal time and full attention.

I also predict this, like most open submission art competitions, will be a little like the first few shows of each season’s American Idol.  There will those pieces of art that hurt your eyes like a screeching voice hurts your ears; or those that simply defy logic; those that make you laugh; those that make you cry; and those that make you say “wow.”

Hopefully, by the end, I will be able to share with you a bunch of “wows.”

How Do You Feel (about Art)?

Ouch.  This video is kind of painful to watch (but it’s only 1:50 long).  These are words from New Yorkers, on the spur of the moment, to describe what they think of “Art.”

I’m not sure if it’s the “Ummmmmmm” everyone starts with, the silence, or the lack of confidence they all show when they finally spit a word or two out that bothers me the most.  The only people that display any conviction are those who use the word “hate” or curse.

One reason I pursued a career in the arts is because I believed art is something everyone has a strong feeling about.  Generally, it’s a love/hate thing.  Regardless, of whether you love it or hate it, you feel strongly about it.  It makes you think and, more importantly, feel.  But this video might have me giving a second thought to that premise.

[Thanks to the mega-talented and super-insightful artist, Tod Pardon, for introducing this video to me.]

How Do You Feel (About Art)? from svanes on Vimeo.