ROB SAYS "ART" IS THE EXPRESSION OF THE HUMAN SOUL. IT CAN BE ANYTHING.
I have an intense aversion to the "beautiful people" dictating what is "good" and what is not. Human beings can be very political, we want to be "accepted" and "included" in the right clique. Then there are those who wish to exert control over others by deciding who can be allowed in the clique. The currency they trade is dictating what is "hip" and "cool." Thus is the reality of the "Art World," where the value of art is based on the narcissism of the human condition. The over self-ascribed and self-important intelligentsia tell us what we are suppossed to think and we obsequiously go along. WELL NOT ROB!!!! Here is what I like:
First, I like the canvases my children have painted for me the most, this might appear boorish and bourgeois, but it is true. Second, I am a huge fan of "primitive" folk art. Why? Because it is "real," it is uncorrupted by the world and often times mirrors true expressions of extremely sincere feelings. Perhaps, the best known examples of this medium are Mary Proctor above and Howard Finster below, both of whom I like.
Nobody told these folks how to hold a brush, mix paint or what they should paint: out comes true expression reflective of their inner souls. I like, indeed I crave substance in art. I look for a statement. I remember one day I went to the Whitney on Madison Avenue and afterwards walked over to the Frick on 70th Street. I found no substantive message at the Whitney, but the
500 year old Renaissance Art at the Frick blew me away. Art is fun to discuss and interpret, but fundamentally, I am a Jeffersonian conservative. There are no right and wrong answers. In Rob's World, you are free to like whatever you wish, whether it is "Dog's Playing Poker" or Andres Serrano's "Piss Christ," whatver floats your boat, live and let live baby! However, I don't want some pointyheaded androgynous Woody Allen look-a-like wearing a cardigan sweater telling what I am "supposed" to like and in true Jeffersonian fashion, I damn sure don't want the government to sanction art in any shape or form.
So there.
