Sunday, March 21, 2010

everyone's a critic III

Today we went to the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City with Uncle Mark. Evan objected to a Rothko painting:

Evan: "That's not even a painting. That's just some black and then some other dark colors."

Sonja: "It's a painting, Evan. Paintings don't have to be representational to make you feel something. Look closely at that painting. What kind of feeling does it give you?"

Evan: "The feeling that it shouldn't be in a museum."

6 comments:

Kay Zahn said...

That's classic. Your blog is very entertaining. I'm guessing your children are as cute and smart as you are observant and articulate. It reminds me a lot of the site/twitter/facebook guy who's site is "sh*t my father says" - I just went to look for you on FaceBook (on the off chance) and found there is a band named Evansaid.

Anyway I was thinking that you should promote your blog, and you should CERTAINLY monitize it. Google makes it SO easy. Not that my opining matters, but I like google checks, and bet you would too. College tuition costs and all ;)

Sorry to hear about your cat. Been there.

regards,
Kay

Kay Zahn said...

I'm going to link to your posts about the Art museum. My site has art fans, and I have a few on FaceBook too.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tempe-and-Greer-AZ/The-Joy-of-The-Joy-of-Painting/278192081300?ref=nf

Kay

Gavin said...

A lot of times I find myself thinking, "Am I too dumb for this? Or is really as terrible and pointless as it looks? (And isn't that the emperor's bare ass?)"

Kay Zahn said...

Well you have my attention, and I doubt I'm the only one. Keep at it. You are doing a great job, and I'll bet your kids will appreciate it someday.

Eric said...

Many thanks for the suggestion and the kind words, Kay.

Gavin: I try to have patience with contemporary art (in any medium) that I don't understand, and to temper my skepticism with some deference to the opinions of people who have spent their whole lives looking at, for example, paint on canvas. Because I've seen so many people dismiss any poem that challenges them as "meaningless." That said, I do like to like things right away, without having to talk myself into it. Your comment reminded me of the famous quote about Wagner's music: "It's not as bad as it sounds."

Leslie said...

Tell Evan that I actually studied art history and the first time I saw a Rothko, I was like, "dude, you have got to be kidding me."

I want to know what Evan would say to Warhol's soup cans. Or one of Jeff Koons' balloon-animal sculptures. Because both of those still boggle my mind.