Arty-Farty

Reflections on the Challenge

When you observe art which seems ideological, shrug and do not be disturbed. Make notes about how and why it happened. Do some objective art yourself later.

• Experiences

  L remembered the challenge when he switched on his Microsoft Surface laptop the next morning. A message in the corner informed him: "Surface is committed to protecting our planet! Learn how to reduce your impact on the environment by adjusting your PC settings." He then started reading a newspaper online. There was an article about a popular TV show called Casualty, about a young woman in the story line who wanted to become a man, to the unaninimous admiration of the other cast members. He then opened his email. There was an invitation to a concert, recommending he attend an event called "Meditation on the Future of our Planet with Ensemble Variances", Throughout the month, virtually every instance of art he encountered in the media was ideological.

  T participated in a virtual exhibition of a German artist known for his vivid portrayals of devastation and decay. The intense imagery initially struck her as horrifying. However, she consciously shrugged off the instinctual reaction and, in doing so, experienced a shift. She perceived the artwork's magnitude reducing and its impact lessening. and considered the artist's history, born in 1945 and having grown up in the aftermath of the war. She recognized the potential influence of his personal and national history on his art. Despite the artist's explanation of the work, she felt drawn into his despair and desolation, which she found more personal than political.

  N had been to Weiwei's exhibition at the Design Museum. He hadn't expected to like it at first, as it was featuring modernist works, but Weiwei had done it in a very clever way. For example, one was a memorial to the children lost in an earthquake, represented by red seals typically found on Chinese paintings, with one seal per child. This artwork gave N some hope about modernist art. However, the highlight of his experience was when he entered an Oxfam shop, and there was a record playing of the Goldberg Variations, and it was just beautiful, and lifted him to a totally different world. He said to the person, he was sorry to interrupt the record, because he was going to buy it. He bought the record, and had been listening to it a lot. Somehow it was like fresh water. It was so cleansing and good for the spirit.

• Responses

  Responding to N and T, L said the art they had witnessed was like a chess beginner writing about a master game in terms of the colours daubed on the pieces. He questioned the necessity of imposing environmental or ideological themes onto artistic creations. Objective art did not need to be accompanied by explanations or justifications. N had not required an explanation to appreciate the mathematical beauty of Bach's Goldberg Variations. Similarly, classical paintings did not require reasons or explanations. L suggested that art was like solving complex puzzles of shade, perspective, harmony or counterpoint. It operated on its own terms, transcending extraneous narratives.

Beelzebub’s Tales, Chapter 30 cont.

With acknowledgements to Harold Good

• Passage

  For instance, at the beginning of the contemporary European civilization one of these beings, a certain monk named Ignatius, who had formerly been an architect, attained even to the possibility of deciphering the hidden knowledge and useful information in the productions of almost all the branches of what was already called ‘ancient’ art, which had reached him from the Babylonian epoch.

  ...when he reached the age of a responsible being, ... he left for the continent of Africa. And just he it was who entered as a monk into the ‘brotherhood’ which existed on that continent Africa, under the name of the ‘Truth Seekers’; and afterwards, when this brotherhood migrated to the continent Europe and increased, and when its brethren began to be called ‘Benedictines,’ he himself was already an ‘All-the-Rights-Possessing-Brother’ of this said brotherhood...

• Discussion

  L commented on the parallel between the journey of Ignatius and the legend of Ulysses, who both undertook long journerys and returned changed.

• Passage

  Hence it is that at the present time there exists among these contemporary professions a great many ‘new movements’ of painting which have arisen in this way and which have nothing in common among themselves. These new movements of painting are known there by the names of ‘cubism,’ ‘futurism,’ ‘synthesism,’ ‘imagism,’ ‘impressionism,’ ‘colorism,’ ‘formalism,’ ‘surrealism,’ and many other similar movements, whose names also end in ‘ism.’

  At this place in Beelzebub’s tale the hoofs of all the passengers of the transspace ship Karnak suddenly, as it were, radiated from themselves something phosphorescent.

  This meant that the ship Karnak was nearing the place of her destination, that is the planet Revozvradendr. Hence, a bustling movement began among the passengers preparing to descend from the ship.

  ...The phosphorescent gleaming of the hoofs was obtained because, concentrated in a particular proportion, there were directed from the engine room to that part of the ship the holy parts of the sacred Omnipresent Okidanokh.

• Discussion

  N mentioned that movements such as Cubism and Futurism were significant during the 1930s when Gurdjieff was penning his writings, and that we are still ensnared in the artistic deterioration described in the book.

  T said the phosphorescent sparks emanating from the hooves were a reminder of Beelzebub's devilish character.