Donkeyfication

Oh,no! Don't avert your eyes. Examine what is here to see. It shows rather recent show of art -collection at the Museum of Art in Chicago. Relying on your own experience and on mine it is presenting very good representation of what should be expected to see in any Modern Art Wing in any of Art Museums across the whole western world.

Where is art? Have some bib-overall clad workers carefully removed art-objects and left this desolate emptiness? Or perhaps the paintings are turned to face the wall and what we see are reverses with nothing that was ever intended to be seen? It certainly looks that way,but of course the truth is that these are the very carefully selected,culled out of numberless lesser art-works,”curated” and who knows- may be “re-curated” pinnacles of artistic achievements of our present art.

I wrote “our”art hastily and carelessly. There is indeed nothing ours in it at all. We have hunger for beauty and discerning eye for what is good and true. These offerings are alien to our ethos as much or more than worm castings.

The sources from which they sprung are not of our world-experience,spiritual life or wanderings of our imaginings. As far as I know viewing public hates them,turns away as soon as it is polite to do so.

Across the firmament of our lives several sooty clouds passed or linger obscuring the light. The bloody cloud of International Communism dissipated. There was pseudo-science of psychoanalysis,now finally rolled silently away. Modern Art is still above raining down its absurdities.

Couple of weeks ago I received an invitation to attend Gala Celebration and Show of new BFA graduates at Guilford College in Greensboro,NC. What astonishing level of work, what rich reasons for Celebration!The stellar art faculty there produced unprecedented miracles of guidance and art instruction. However expensive the education of these graduates has been the parents should certainly feel that their offsprings go out into the world with superb skills and a most solid foundation to enrich our culture. Personally I was struck by the memorable sculpture entitled poetically “Eggshells” and indeed made of eggshells and a short string.

One may wonder if the achievements at the Art Department are indicative of the quality of education at other departments of that institution?