# Discussion of Art - Realism



## Don Nguyen (Jun 7, 2013)

http://vimeo.com/22074927

To skip the video, here is the painting in question:







There are countless people out there saying that this has little value as art, because it's essentially like being a human camera. Some even devalue it even more so because it's painted from reference, and not from memory.

This is one of the times where I want to throw away the idea of, "everyone is entitled to their own opinions," and just want to say, "you're wrong." It irritates me to no end to hear that kind of elitist mindset; I don't even feel the need to prove the skill level demonstrated. To downplay that kind of mastery because it doesn't fit in the "normal" category of art is arrogant and narrow minded.

Thoughts? Perhaps I'm just being egotistical myself, but this is something that really strikes a chord in me.


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## HHH Knives (Jun 7, 2013)

ART!!!!


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## GlassEye (Jun 7, 2013)

I appreciate this as art. I think that you have a scale with pure abstract on one side and pure realism on the other, all art is going to be somewhere on the scale. Robin Eley seems to see things far to the realism side. Discrediting this as art purely on the level of realism is ridiculous and does not take into account many other things, like composition, color, shadow. I would really like to see one of these paintings in person,


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## ecchef (Jun 7, 2013)

Technically beautiful, but emotionally does about as much for me as a perfectly executed yellow stripe down the center of a road.


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## Salty dog (Jun 7, 2013)

Someone once told me art should provoke some type of emotion. For me, I look at that painting and I'm amazed. Why the artist chose this genre to display his skill is not for me to decide.


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## Dream Burls (Jun 7, 2013)

There's an old saying that applies here as well as many other situations: "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder".


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## mano (Jun 7, 2013)

Because I find my eyes following the geometry of the woman, floor and walls something artistic must be going on. The artist's photo realistic technical ability adds a texture -I guess that's what you'd call it- that a photograph wouldn't capture.

The fact the woman's covered in plastic, I don't get so much, but I like her expression and how she appears comfortable. Pretty incredible piece but not something I'd put on my wall.

Devin, I fully appreciate it but have the artistic skills of a square of sod.


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## DevinT (Jun 7, 2013)

Only those with the skills to do something like this can fully appreciate it.

Hoss


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## knyfeknerd (Jun 7, 2013)

I would prefer a front view!
I say art.


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## Zwiefel (Jun 7, 2013)

After 20 years of these kinds of discussions with wife (she studied art in college) my conclusion is that art is concept as much (or more) as execution--this is why, sometimes, only the first person to do something can make it art. 

If this concept makes sense to you, then it's art...to you. There's no reason we all should have the same answer...we can have different answers and still all be right b/c it's personal.




mano said:


> The fact the woman's covered in plastic, I don't get so much, but I like her expression and how she appears comfortable. Pretty incredible piece but not something I'd put on my wall.



This was pretty much my own reaction.


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## DevinT (Jun 7, 2013)

@Mano, I apologize, my comment was not directed at you or anyone for that matter.

Love and respect

Hoss


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## Sambal (Jun 8, 2013)

In 2001 the Turner Prize, arguably the most prestigious art award in the UK worth 20,000 UK Pounds in that year, was given to one Martin Creed. His winning artwork? An empty room with lights switching on and off every 5 seconds. It was titled 'Work No. 227, lights going on and off'. Don't just believe me go google it!

And while you're at it have a look at Tracey Emin's 'My Bed' which was an installation of, well you might have guessed it, an unmade bed with condoms, menstrual stains, knickers and other personal stuff. This was bought by Charles Saatchi for British Pounds 150,000. 

And how about Damien Hurst's picked shark? A 14 foot tiger shark in formaldehyde which was sold in 2004 for something like $8 million. You read that right. This pickled shark was titled 'The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living'. Yeah, right.

Art mirrors society, culture and the intellect of the mileau. For our times it basically means anything and everything as long as the 'artist' intends for whatever he/she is making to be art. One of the earliest example of this trend was Duchamp's 'Fountain' which was an upside down urinal. 

Beauty, composition, expertise in the craft, emotions, not even the eye of the beholder are in the consideration any longer. Conceptualism and postmodernism have usurped all that. It seems to me that the art industry heavy hitters are now the academics, the theorists and the gallery taste makers. In my opinion these art 'professionals' have usurped the place of the artist. The art scene now seems to me to be one where the art 'professionals' need an itch to scratch in terms of pursuing a theory or trend, and the artists are all too happy to provide them with this itch. Often it seems the more sensational the itch the more satisfying the scratch. And the art market? They just follow. I long to see a performance of The Emperor's New Clothes outside an art opening at a gallery. 

The artwork that takes the cake for me is by Piero Manzoni who produced a limited edition of 90 tin cans filled with faeces, presumably his own. Titled 'Artist's ****' these originally sold for their exact value at that time of their weight in gold. In 2007 one can was sold at a Sotheby's auction for Euro 124,000. Who's laughing now! Yeah, that's right, the emperor has no clothes! And there's one born every minute.


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## Lucretia (Jun 8, 2013)

Amazing technique, but I look at it and that song we used to sing as kids is now an earworm...you know, the one about putting a plastic bag over your head, go to bed, wake up dead.

It reminds me of how I feel about Whitney Houston's singing. Absolutely incredible instrument, lots of people love it, but for me lacks emotion and musicality. This guy's paintings look amazing in their realism, but don't do much for me. If I saw it hanging someplace, my response would be "Wow! Look at the detail" rather than be struck by its beauty. 

Art, sure. Do I like it? Not particularly.


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## panda (Jun 10, 2013)

this is creepy,


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