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Art
continues to evolve. Some artists work diligently to perfect
their techniques and to express their ideas in visual forms
that can be understood by the attentive viewer. Others still
try short cuts such as jumping at devices that catch the eye
but result in empty gestures. One of these continuing “let’s
pretend” art forms is pseudo primitive art. Well,
“primitive” was what we used to call it; now to be
politically correct we use the term “indigenous art.”
By
copying the unsophisticated techniques of indigenous
developing cultures, some contemporary artists hope their
art work will be perceived as straight from the heart,
unencumbered by academic traditions. Spontaneity and
unsophistication are thought to be “in,” or “cool” as the
latest buzz word goes. The truth is we can’t turn back the
clock even if some of us want to. No one can go back and
draw like the Neanderthals. We cannot pretend that this is
not the last decade of the twentieth century.
The few
of the viewing public who have escaped brainwashing by art
dealers, academics, and critics do not know that they are
supposed to admire this pseudo primitive art; accordingly,
they often respond to it by exclaiming, “Why, my child in
kindergarten draws better.” They even may be right.
But the
art field is not alone in this attempted manipulation of
taste. Other examples are in the fashion world. Today it is
also very “in” for girls and boys (of all ages) to wear
frayed blue jeans with gaping holes at the knees. These
jeans are covered with deliberately-bleached white spots and
streaks, and the costume is purposely finished off with
untied shoelaces that trail on the ground. Baseball hats are
worn backwards à la “Rap,” and hair styles consist of
straggly strands dripping down over faces à la Michael
Jackson.
But guess
what? This type of dressing—as if one were part of the
ragged poor—has been in vogue before! Just prior to the
French Revolution, Marie Antoinette and her
ladies-in-waiting played at being poor milkmaids. They
dressed accordingly in the
Palace of
Versailles
and even (so they say) mixed among the commoners in their
disguises... until the revolution and the guillotine ended
their play.
No one
wants to be impecunious, but it is important to make the
connection that it is the same ritualistic pretend
poverty that is in fashion today. Some years ago, people
now wearing frayed blue jeans wouldn’t be caught dead in
such a getup, and, hopefully, they will feel that way again
a few years in the future. We, of course, must not neglect
to note other pop garb of the day: tattoos, earrings (also
worn in noses, lips and navels) and shaved heads are in
direct homage not to the poor but to the primitive
cultures that some folks might wish to join but, once again,
can affect no more than pretending in our
scientifically-enlightened society. As if that isn’t enough,
the very latest to hit the fashion market is “prison garb,”
designed and made by imprisoned felons (including
murderers), so that some misguided souls can even play
“let’s pretend” in pseudo criminal outfits. But there
is hope. The fashion world always follows the art
world.
And the
exposure of the “game” has already happened in art to the
non-objective and neo-primitive artists who were all the
rage up until just a few years ago. Their often decorative,
sometimes offensive but ultimately meaningless works are
beginning to be relegated to History of Art lectures.
Neo-realism is becoming the style of the day. Just in time,
because the public was finally “on” to turning off to
the novelty of “modern” art. Now a growing number of people
are interested in understanding what the artist of a
representational painting is trying to say about life
rather than about fads in art. They have begun to appreciate
beauty and admire competent work that actually communicates
values to them.
Now it’s
time for the “in” folks in fashion to catch on and catch up
to the new wave in art, a wave that can last because it’s
real.
Joseph Veach Noble is Chairman of the Board
of Trustees of Brookgreen Gardens of American Sculpture,
Director Emeritus of the Museum of the City of New York and
former Vice Director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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