Art or not

Art is like food. Not everyone likes the same thing and that is probably a good thing. If everyone in the world would love lobster and shrimp, then they would be prohibitively expensive that only the super rich could afford to eat them. Most likely, there would be no more lobster and shrimp.

Same thing with music. Tastes are different. I don't care much for most of the stuff played these days; I think it's crap, but, hey,who am I to say? My sons don't like the music I love. When you like something it is difficult to imagine that there are actually people out there who don't like it. Like I said...it's all a matter of taste.

I want to talk about paintings. I believe anyone who can paint lifelike is very talented. We have a couple of paintings hanging in our living room, prints only, but we paid good money for them, that fall into that category.  One is a painting of two raccoons by Carl Brenders, and the other one shows a pack of wolves in a winter scene, painted by Larry Fanning. The paintings are like photographs. Now that is true art.

I don't like what they call 'modern or abstract art'. Never cared for Picasso, even though his paintings sell for millions of Dollars. A few years back my brother-in-law was asked by a reporter on the street what he thought about a new statue in front of one of the Down-town buildings. It was a 'modern' style statue. No idea what it was supposed to be. He put it quite eloquently: "It 's crap. Modern art is just an excuse for somebody with no talent." I read once about an art exhibit where a painting that was drawn by a monkey won first price. What does that tell you? How about those elephants a few years ago that made the news when they, apparently, created masterpieces painting with their trunks and feet? They were hailed as talented artists. Rest my case.

Why am I bringing this up? I just saw on TV something about a 4 year old girl who paints and sells her creations for lots of money. Some 'experts' likened her style to some famous artists. It really doesn't say much about those 'famous' artists, I think. To me her paintings are nothing but blotches of colours. Just my opinion. Then again...I don't like modern art.

I've long been a fan of #Boris Vallejo, #Luis Royo, Frank Franzetta, and other talented artists like them. Among other purposes, they paint covers for books. What they paint is true art. I could spend hours looking at their pictures (if I had the time -:) It gets my imagination going. Looking at blotches and streaks of colours tells me nothing. Perhaps I get nervous if I see too much red? I've never put it to the test. I'd rather look at something I enjoy.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Nobody can argue with that.