Koons, Cattelan and Roat

I have never been fond of contemporary art.  

I tried. I really tried.

But I can't take it seriously. 

When I think contemporary art, I see Roat Romano Chucalescu.

Roat Romano Chucalescu is the archetype of the contemporary artist who will shit on a canvas, pretend it's art and sell it a fortune.

Just check this video* and you will totally get the point ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0WoW7hbOWA).  I am sorry for those who don't speak/understand French. I will try to have it translated because it is hilarious.

Some quotes are memorable !

"I do not go to the canvas. The canvas comes to me." or "I am a deconstructor of  timelessness."

Yeah, I see you laughing behind your screen... Go ahead, it's good for your abs.

In other words, to me the contemporary artist was personified by Koons. The man was a broker used to sell crap, who married the Cicciolina.

He sells plastic lobsters and everybody screams : "Genius!"

Come on.

An artist** once said :

"Someone once told me that it  (art) was very profitable profession...

Extract from a NY Times article (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/26/arts/design/26private.html?_r=1&ref=arts)

"Still, the art world loves to talk, and in recent months among the expensive paintings that have quietly changed hands are a 1970s de Kooning abstract canvas sold for around $30 million; a Cy Twombly “Blackboard” painting for $12 million; one of Gerhard Richter's “Color Charts” for $18 million; and Jeff Koons’s “Hanging Heart Violet” sculpture for $11 million."

that you could travel a lot ...

and meet a lot of girls (...)."

"There is, at least, a certain amount of respect.  This is one profession in which I can be a little bit stupid, and people will say, "Oh, you are so stupid; thank you, thank you for being so stupid"."  

Yes, to me contemporary art and the contemporary artist were all contained in this quote.


But recently, I had a sort of revelation (not about Koons, of course).


Last Sunday, despite the cold, I went to the Cattelan exhibition at the Guggenheim. At first, I was not really enthusiastic about it.


But what I saw was just incredible. For once there was a meaning  (to me at least).

  

  
I don't know.  I was just captivated.  


All these sculptures hanging from the museum's rotunda seemed so real. There was no cohesiveness but still it was absolutely fascinating.


I must however admit that the taxidermied horses, donkeys and dogs made me feel uncomfortable.


But I guess I come from very far... 


 
Alda 

* Les Inconnus (L'Artiste Peintre)
** Maurizio Cattelan