At this moment in time i have been thinking about art, and then, thinking of the art i made at University (or lack of it). Yes, for those who do not know i studied a BA (Hons) in Fine Art :)
One of the pieces i remember making was entitled by the same name of this post. The piece of ‘art’ was in fact a letter from the bank announcing they were going to charge me for going over my overdraft which i then mounted to the wall and suitably named.
It was in fact a simple statement, a catch 22, i had made no art, here is why but i am now declaring this to be the art. Most people would say this rather lazy or pathetic and i wouldn’t be surprised as they would have a point. But i thought it was interesting. Not because i thought it more worthy than someone who had spent hours whittling a pony out of cheese but because it was daring - the damned cheek of it! A Catch 22, it played with people. When i walked people over to the space in which my ‘art’ was exhibited they treated it like they would any other piece, getting close to it, looking to see whether any of the text had been edited - where was the hidden message!?
They were looking for something that wasn’t there, they were treating this document like they treated their own work. Of which often made no statements whatsoever and were merely self-indulgent, this was evident when describing their work. But they followed the rules and played it safe. Hell, they ‘made’ artwork, they didn’t just declare it (sorry Duchamp, 2:2).
In an art institution i was treated as though i were autistic. I didn’t do the research first therefore my ideas were worthless, unfounded. When people ask me what did i do ar=t uni “painting? sculpture?” i naturally and nervously shudder as i try to explain how i didn’t make any art et al. Almost makes me wish i had done it all differently.. wait, just to answer one question? Nah, i fucked up but i learned a lot by doing it.
