July 24, 2010
"Treat Me Like Your Mother Or I'll Eat the Sun."
The title of a drawing in an art show by Frances Bean Cobain, who will turn 18 next month and by so doing get her hands on a tremendous amount of money.
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26 comments:
Given all the revelations popping up about him lately, I thought that was going to be an Al Gore quote.
I actually kinda like the artwork.
Art should be beautiful, interesting or both. It's a simple standard, but this does not meet it for me. She is kinda famous, interestingly, because her parents are well known disasters. That's fairly unusual.
Once she turns 18 it'll be okay for me to speculate on her grooming habits. Though I already have a pretty good idea of what the answer will be :(
Peter
Hmmm.
Soon to be 18 and filthy rich.
Obvious issues.
Mutant parentage.
I just don't see this ending well...
She's her mother's daughter, quite obviously.
The paper calling the show 'creepy' is damning with faint praise, but, given her parents and upbringing, what do we expect?
edutcher said: "...given her parents and upbringing, what do we expect?"
I expected better artwork. I'm no expert on music or art, but in my thoroughly ignorant opinion, Cobain was quite talented (but a self-absorbed asshole); Love is somewhat talented (but a drug-addled puke); and Love had the money to send this young lady to some very pricey art schools.
And these drawings just aren't very impressive. They just come across as self-absorbed, angsty, trying-to-be-twisted teen crap, the sort of thing you'd see from a disturbed 13-year-old.
HELP!
This is what passes for art nowadays...and I am greatly dismayed.
I agree with bagoh. It's not a hard standard to meet, really, but so much art anymore doesn't seem to meet it. Anymore, it's decadent.
One of my professors in art school (one of the rare ones I actually agreed with when it came to artistic philosophy) commented on the decadence of art, pointing out how it was something that usually came about when artists just didn't know what to do anymore and just started doing whatever (his exact words were more eloquent). This is something that has gone on throughout all of art history. It's a noticeable pattern. For example, in Greek art, you have the protogeometric and geometric periods where artists were just learning their skill. After that, Greek artists further refined their skill and the classical art we're all familiar with is what came next. But after that...after that we have the Hellenistic period which, while some of the most recognized ancient Greek art came from it, is often described as being very decadent.
After this period, Greek art never seemed to reach the levels it did at the height of the classical era.
And this is only one example. You'll notice a similar pattern looking at other European art. Start with medieval art. It moves into Renaissance art, then Baroque (which, in my opinion was the absolute height of Western art) and then declines into the decadent (Rococo). As far as Western art goes, it seems to me we see a great decline in it after the Baroque period and it never reaches that same height. With few exceptions (i.e. some of the art from Impressionism, Cubism, and others, but for the most part, it, at least for me, never seems to reach the levels art did during the Baroque).
I contend most art from the 20th century on just doesn't compare to any of the art we see from the Baroque or, before that, the Renaissance. It's in a great decline, as far as I see it. My criteria for great art is basically this: the work has to be something that took a significant amount of skill to create, evokes powerful emotion, is beautiful, is interesting. (Yes, I know most of these are subjective, but I actually do argue that there are some things that are objective. i.e. symmetry is pretty much universally accepted as something beautiful and using it is going to make, say, your artwork objectively more beautiful--if that makes sense).
Nearly all art in the recent decades doesn't meet these criteria. For the most part, it's inane. It's ugly. It's someone throwing paint on a canvas and calling it art. It's ridiculous. It's a mockery of art. These pieces Francis has done? Perfect examples of all of that.
Sorry, wall of text. I could rant for a while on this, but I'll stop here.
Franc[e]s.
I like my drawings better.
And they're a hell of a lot cheaper.
And, unlike Frances Bean, I really need the money.
I don't care for the my-life-is-a-hellhole theme, but she's a good draftsman with interesting composition and a very beautiful line.
Texan99 said:
"I don't care for the my-life-is-a-hellhole theme, but she's a good draftsman with interesting composition and a very beautiful line."
I agree. I liked the drawings much more than I thought I would prior to clicking the link. Add some maturity and wisdom to her rendering style - I'd say she could be an accomplished artist. She should try her hand at lithography - I think her style would translate well into that medium.
Sounds vaguely like the history behind the derivation of the name for the band Jimmy Eat World.
What Chef Mojo said.
Although one can be hopeful. You never know.
And what edutcher said...
As I teach drawing to freshmen, I'm used to assessing the work of young artists her age. Her drawings are of a standard type, juvenilia to be sure, but display above-average latent skill that can be greatly increased with discipline, proper instruction, maturity and, above all, practice.
Unfortunately extreme privilege is usually an extraordinary impediment to those necessary steps.
That's a good comment. Although a pessimistic view of the world is somewhat expected throughout adolescence.
I like your sketchpad and might even be tempted to order some. It would help chip in for a few meals for my libertarian friend. How's that for ironic?
Other than that, why the burning fires in Palladio's structure? Are you turning your possessions into kindling so as to keep warm? I know, wrong season. Maybe your air conditioner works on a very unusual or primitive mechanism.
Maybe she'd really prefer to be an accountant.
Or maybe she would really like to doing watercolors of sunflowers and bunnies.
"It would help chip in for a few meals for my libertarian friend. How's that for ironic?"
Not ironic at all! An exchange of goods for payment! I'm not begging for donations. I'd welcome your order, Ritmo.
I wonder what Crackskull Bob thinks of this.
Soon to be 18 and filthy rich. Obvious issues. Mutant parentage. I just don't see this ending well...
I wouldn't read too much into a teenager doing angry artwork. So far she hasn't given any signs of being particularly unhinged.
The article says that all of the drawings are sold.
Where does one hang such drawings? Where in the house would one prefer to be confronted with those images every day?
Latonya,
De gustibus non est disputandum.
And think of the mole on Marilyn Monroe's face.
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