Art is considered art when it’s not being art

Some time ago a man visited an art gallery and accidentally left his glasses there. They’d fallen out of his pocket and, unbeknownst to him, they’d landed on the floor near a wall. What do you think happened next? Well, a lot of things could have happened. Someone could have picked them up and handed them in to ‘lost and found’. Or someone could have accidentally trodden on them, breaking them and then throwing them away in the bin. Or maybe someone could have accidentally kicked them so that they slid across the floor ending up under furniture or another exhibit making them impossible to find, at least not so easily. Or maybe their owner, realising they were missing, came back and picked them up off the floor.

Which of these scenarios seems the most likely to you? And remember, all this happened in an art gallery.

Whichever scenarios you choose, you’d most likely be incorrect. In fact, what happened next, even though it seems to be happening more and more in recent years, defies logic. That being said, it is also incredible.

In fact, upon seeing the glasses lying on the floor, visitors began taking photos of it thinking it was some kind of artwork. There was nothing spectacular about the frames; they were really quite common. But the mere fact that they appeared to be lying strategically on the floor near a wall led people to think it was not a lost item.

It seems to me that almost anything odd and unusual can be mistaken for art if it’s already inside an art gallery not being art. Art is no longer the traditional or classic art that people were used to seeing in the 19th century. Back then there were some pretty prominent masters of the brush who painted beautiful landscapes and portraits, even still life, using a variety of media, all of which could be picked up by a brush. Cotman, Turner, Constable, all had great works of art. Now, although they are still considered to be the great masters, unfortunately modern art, in its many forms, has gone way beyond the Mondrian cubes or paintings that seemed not to have a proper perspective in their landscapes.

Not so long ago, we heard about a banana that became famous because it was taped to a wall and was actually sold for millions. It became the subject of a joke in the normal art world and many amateur artists parodied it by taping their own fruit to their walls, and not just a banana, and posting them on social media to see what kind of reaction they would get. In all fairness, their banana looked as much like the famous banana in the gallery so what was the big deal about that banana?

There’s also been an unmade bed that was exhibited at the Tate Gallery in London entitled ‘My Bed’. I think that is an affront to every artist who paints traditional landscapes, portraits and still life. Normal artists with normal and recognisable works are passed over because some curator has a thing for an unmade bed or a piece of fruit taped to a wall. It defies logic.

The contemporary art world is not normal by normal artists’ standards. There is one story where a visitor went into an art gallery. Upon seeing a bench covered in workmen’s tools he remarked to the curator, ‘Oh, so the renovation is still ongoing then?’ The reply was ‘no, that’s a piece of art on display’. That’s how absurd it has become. In my personal experience, making art that normal people appreciate is very hard work. I have a YouTube channel and even though most people think that my art is pretty good it has been virtually impossible for me to get the views and subscribers I need for YouTube’s algorithm to push it out to more potential subscribers. Obviously people on YouTube think my art is not so good despite the effort that goes into it.

Back in the 1990s I personally felt that a multi-coloured paint splatter on a wall was ridiculous and required no effort at all. It just showed that the artist got fed up and decided to throw his paints about. But it’s considered art. A few years ago, during an inspection, a machine had been painted outside by some workers. I knew because a yellow silhouette had been left behind after the machine had been moved. I guarantee that someone in the art world would have thought it was art. It just goes to show that art is considered art only when it’s not being art.