Tuesday, January 19, 2016
Monet, Impressionism, and Comedy Central
I was just watching Comedy Central's Discover page on Snapchat and this comedian named Jesse James had a bit in which he criticized art. His segment was called what I hate about art. He started by saying that impressionism "pissed him off the most" of any other type of art. He then moved on to say that he specifically hated Claude Monet. He described Monet as a "handicapped conman" because Monet had catarax. James, who earned an education at an art school prior to becoming a comedian pointed out how Monet had catarax, and how anyone could re-create his work by simply spraying pepper spray in their eyes and attempting to paint water lilies. James didn't buy into the idea of atmosphere or the idea of an impression of a moment or place. I just thought it was really cool and interesting that I knew exactly what the comedian was talking about in his little comedy bit. Everyone should go watch before the day is over. If not its "Jesse James @@midnight "what I hate about art""
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7 comments:
I just watched this clip in study hall. Very funny!! I agree, it is awesome to get references to art and history after learning about it. Not specifically just impressionist work, but also other things we have done in Humanities. For example, the other day someone was talking about how weird it was that her friend calls her boyfriend "daddy". I made a wisecrack, and commented that she was following the path that Freud believed in (that sons are attracted to their moms and daughters are attracted to their dads). The information we learn in Humanities crosses over, too. Like in Oedipus, this concept had already been introduced to us, and we later studied Freud in depth. Sorry my post wasn't directly related to your art criticism comedy clip, but it was just an opportune time to point out the wide-range of connections I have established from Humanities class.
I see where people are coming from when they criticize impressionist work like Monet's. However, I still think these paintings take a lot of talent. In some ways I think it may even be harder to look at something and paint it differently than the painter sees it. I actually went to Monet's garden about two years ago and saw firsthand some of the real-life scenes he based his paintings off of (like the water lilies and the bridge). It was really awesome to see this stuff. You can really tell this guy was totally into his art. He actually lived alone in the middle of his garden (which is huge) about an hour outside of Paris if I remember correctly. I can't attach pictures of his house and garden because this is a comment, but if you look it up, you'll recognize some of the scenes in the garden that he painted. The garden and the house were both really beautiful.
Even today, Monet and impressionist, are still being criticized for their seemingly sloppy artwork. His work might seem sloppy and like a toddle could do it but I assure it is not. I went to a camp a while ago and had an art period to take. The focus of the course was to emulate Monet/ impressionist art. I painted some sunflowers and even though the painting wasn't bad, the skill level was obvious. Monet's art might seem easily made, but that is just a shallow view.
It's pretty cool to think that the blurriness in Monet's paintings could have been a result of him having cataracts in both eyes, as suggested by art critics today. Debates over the worth of an artist continues through time and evolves with different generations.
Humanities class (and AP English III) made me feel a lot more educated about literature and the world, and now I feel differently towards seeing a work of art in person, especially one we've talked and heard a lot about.
I think that Monet's type of painting takes an exceptional amount of skill especially because it is "blurry". There's a fine line between his beautiful works of art and looking like a five year old's art project. Monet has his own specific technique that takes years of experience and skill. I think more people should appreciate that and be able to master it and do something better if they want to critique. People look at something all the time and say "well I could've done that!!" --- but you didn't. That's why they're famous and you're not.
I have always thought that Monet's paintings are beautiful, and I definitely agree that it takes a great amount of skill to make them look like what is described as "bury". Personally I think these types of paintings are particularly interesting because when you look at them you can certainly feel the atmosphere surrounding what the artist paints. The "blur" sort of opens the paintings up for interpretation in my mind. People see certain things in different ways, and I think the blur allows for people to have even more unique/individual interpretations of the pieces.
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