I was waiting for the bus this morning, due to it being sunday service suffice to say i was there a long time. Next to my bus stop there is a small field and on this field there are several tree's. Three children had constructed a form of swing out of blue industrial rope and a thick branch. Whilst watching them play it triggered me to think about cheap thrills within art, by this I mean gaining some sort of pleasure from something not particularly complex in purpose or means.
These children were having such a wonderful time from such a simple object, it was just a thing of waste materials used in a way to mimic the action of a swing, they each took a turn to be pushed in this contraption and swayed merrily, all giggling with pure glee at this simple motion of rocking back and fourth.
This whole situation started snow balling a thought in my mind about the last exhibition I had been to which was in the Manchester City art gallery on wednesday. Me and Louise wandered around the various floors not particularly being engaged with anything, we appreciated the grand oil paintings for the skill and clear sign of detertimation but we like our cheap, plastic thrills. We found ourselves in the 'interactive' gallery space, this space being one aimed at younger children, There were lots of different artworks that you could interact with, buttons to press, things to look through. All these different activities, as trivial and naiive as they were, had me engaged. Is this a reflection on my attention span? My intelligence? Maybe so. But these simple interactions took me out of my life for a short amount of time, and anything that can do that has to be a good thing. Art to me has always been a form of escapism and distraction from my own life and current affairs, I generally go to gallerys to be taken away somewhere else, whether that be by a silly mirror or something radically political that deals with relevant issues of todays society. To wittle this down to my point, lately I've been reflecting alot of on my own relationship with art and how it may differ to others and why. Why am I attracted to art work that demonstrates a cheap thrill?
For example, Nam June Pikes exhibition in the fact. The tent like structure with the flashing lights. This was a huge cheap thrill and I swallowed it up completely. Give me some alluring lighting and a mat to lie down on and I'm there. Although this is a purely shallow intake into this artwork that's not to say pieces with intellectual depth are wasted on me, I will happily absorb art with dense meaning and art that is making a statement on a particular topic. But nothing quite captures me like a shallow display of aesthetics, I've been thinking alot about why this is. Maybe it's due to my generation, the generation of ADHD and £1.50 vodka red bulls. Maybe it's due to my materialistic nature. Quick, instant gratification.
From what I can summise in my own 2D brain, I am a product of my time, and this for myself has affected my relationship with art. My short attention span and short bordem threshold has impacted my tolerance levels for artwork. Those children playing with the pseudo swing will surely get bored and have probably set it on fire by now for round two of stimulation before tea time, I'm not far from that kind of attitude towards the art industry. It's an ongoing reflection and learning process I am waging through to find out why I ''like'' certain artworks and not others, but for the meantime, I'd like fries with my order of cheap thrills.
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