Day 21: Is this art?

[Helga0]

Is it art? just for fun

Once upon a time, in one of your first renting summers, we had a South African artist as a guest for five weeks. Longer than the usual tourist, but he had an art show in the region and planned to return to Europe and to live in France. At the time, the apartment seemed very fine to our local friends, but as it was not yet up to my foreign standard, I always worried that it would be good enough and clean enough and enough of everything. My husband, who used to share all normal household tasks, fled my cleaning fits before new arrivals and spent the day on the beach.

The artist and his family were happy, sent us an invitation to the first show with his South African paintings, which we put dutifully on our artists association’s website. Nice paintings, a bit african social misery romance, but they had a lot of art and spirit in them and he sold them at very high prices.
When we came back, (local condition: return the flat clean) we found a mess. First impression: the kids also were aspiring artists. They had painted on everything: doors, door frames, balcony glass doors, the tv all around, the white curtains, the tile floors, the carpets, the small cube the tv was sitting on - it had wheels to be able to turn it and to paint it all around.
Second impression: there is stuff everywhere. Our kitchen furniture had extra high legs, as my husband loved to cook standing without breaking his back and insisted to be able to clean easily under every piece of furniture. This let us recover with a broom within five minutes 16 toys cars, a motorcycle, a batman figure, some other small toys and 3 big potatoes. We added « toys" to our equipment list and made some kids happy over the years, Still today, the neighbor’s kid and the parrot are negotiating ownership of the batman.
The bed sheets were different shades of grey, hanging from the bed to the floor in a streak to the door, like they had tried to hold back the fleeing guest by the ankle.
We threw out potatoes, plastic cups and dirty underwear, put the sheets at highest temperature washing programme and started on the paint. I was very grateful to discover that they had given an easy cleaning, water soluble kind of paint to their kids and not used our pencils or markers. 5 washing machines and a joint cleaning fit later, there was no lasting damage.

A year later we went to his new art show « French Life » and discovered scenes from our apartment, paintings like 'Love in the Morning' the muddled bed, the plastic cups and « Is this food from a dinner on paper dishes? Did they eat in bed? Why on earth, the tv is in the other room. »

We went from painting to painting, spotting an overflowing ashtray - my husband sighed mournfully « And I can’t smoke in bed » ,

dirty underwear under the bed « Is this the same we threw out? So he knew it was there? »

« You know, the paintings are dated even with the day. The same sheets the whole stay, that explains the color. »

« Why plastic cups and plates? Not to wash dishes? »

« Because porcelain breaks when you shove it out of the bed in your sleep? »

The pictures of their new permanent apartment were also showing "Social Misery in France" and I concluded:

« I’m so glad that you are painting abstract paintings. I don’t mind hanging as a very abstract nude on someone’s wall, but I could not stand exposing our dirty laundry. »

Several years later, by pure coincidence, we met again. He brought a "dead" and sticky computer for repair and was resigned to face a huge bill. Two days later, my husband handed back a shiny white Macbook, asking for much less than he feared. At the astonished look Douglas said with a grin:

"You know, there was no real damage, just clutter. A thorough cleaning was all it took."strange finds

[J-Renato0]

Hello @Helga0

I do not know If I understood properly your story! 🙂

I have some questions!

Did you charged the artist for the very difficult cleaning due to the state he left your property? 🙂

It does not matter if someone thinks that "mess" is "art" or not... I do not consider what he did a normal and acceptable behaviour anyway.

If this kind of mess was art, I think that, some of the worst guest I have had could be consider a potential artists! 🙂

I remeber a couple that left the kitchen in a mess! Dirty pans and some sort of spilled liquid stinking on the kitchen floor. In the bathroom, there seemed to be vomit around the toilet.

Well, since from the middle of the 20 century, I think that people confuse artists with creative persons. Certainly, in the mind of the artist that stayed in your summer house, he was doing something creative or different. If it is art or not, it up to the judgement of each person that see the works!

From my point of view, a creative person is not necessarialy an artist ! What the creative person does can surprise others! But the legacy of a person that is only creative, is only the ideas that the creative person materialized or represented.

If the person is creative and a real artist as well, its legacy is also the tecniques that the real artist used to do his/her works! That is why Michelangelo Buonarotti, Lorenzo Bernini, Raphael, Salvador Dali, Cezane and Van Gogh are in a very different level from some mere creative persons that introduce themselvies as artists! Perhaps it is heresy to say this, but I believe that, Any Warhol became famous more because he was very creative. Due to his fame, he inspired lots of people that are only creative and able to create things that surprise others to define themselfs as "artists" 🙂

As for the end of the story... the computer thing, I think I did not understand it properly. I think I am somewhat slow today 🙂  What do you mean?

[J-Renato0]

In addition

Just making a comparison. Andy Warhol used a picture of Mao Tse Tung to put lipstick on his lips, and that was considered art. Without any doubt, it was a creative work. However, one does not have to have special  artistic talent to do that, one have just to be creative.
I think the "artist or non-artist" who rented your house may have thought of something similar. Instead of putting ink on Mao's lips, he decided to spread ink and other things in his house 🙂

[Helga0]

I see it a bit differently. Art is very hard to define and “talent” is already a judgement based on your preconceptions what an acceptable result would be. 

Running an artists association, I come accross  many artists, who are not (yet) well known and others who sell at high prices. 

My personal distinction is the need to express  something, an unsuppressible compulsion to express an emotion, a feeling, something defining or imposing the artist’s life. That canbe positive, a new love, but often it’s something darker. The talent and amount of creativity then define if the work will be good or bad art, but it’s art. 

Opposite are works created in a commercial interest only and out of boredom. There are lots of people finding art as a hobby. 

And sometimes an artist may find, that his commercial works sell better and to go for them, for a while or for good. The old masters also worked on order...

[Helga0]

Lol, @J-Renato0, that happened between 2003 and 2005, I don’t remember. Renting was less formalised before Airbnb. No house rules in the add, and the contract did not foresee a clause, not to paint on furniture. 

As it was a long rental, we avoided key service and check-in and -out troubles for two more guests. No phone calls “Helga, the guests did not tell me when they leave! ... “Helga, the guest did not call, where are they? I have to leave town now!!!” No money to pay for those services either, and at that time, we preferred to save that and clean for 3 bad guests in one catastrophic package. 😉

The artist was more of the placative sort. I looked him up yesterday to maybe find one of the scenes from our apartment. I did not, he is very prolific and in midlife crisis now. I gave up scrolling after two screens full of scenes of naked people around tables, drinking and very sloppy looking and lots of giant male organs, even those looking sloppy. I think I even saw a big one looking like a fallen tree as well and sprouting red white dotted mushrooms...

[Edwin57]

I went to art school to learn,it was kind of  fun until one day I notice my Dad laughing at my work, so this went on for weeks so I ask my Dad what is it that makes you laugh his reply was you are not an artist, he started explaining it to me for a long time I was young at the time so it felt like a long time

my Dad told me art is a feeling that we want to express some good some bad , or to put a voice on it in different way some of are crying some of us are making love art is the essence of our soul that some how we found a way to express it only thos who can understand it is those who didn't for get to love ,cry, fight, and ,so on and , there is art that's just bull (sh) you know what I mean the he told me the reason Iam always laughing at your art work is because you trying to express a young lady he was right so I ask my Dad how can I approach this girl stop doing art just express your felling art is not for everybody so I did express my felling so I wined up going out with her sister instead remembered now I was younger so the story is my was right because he's and artists 

[Edwin57]

At the bottom ment to said dad

[Helga0]

@Edwin57, you make me laugh, going out with the sister of your muse. 

Your father was right, if an artist puts his soul into a work and the whole message arrivs and may influence a spectator, it’s certainly great art. 

Although he was maybe a bit harsh on you. Or maybe he laughed, because he discovered your secret via the artwork: “ah, my son is in love. I wonder when he will tell me?” 

It’s easier to express pain than joy, tragic love makes great art works, that last forever, happy love is harder to express in form of good art. As a comedy maybe, to make people laugh. 

Maybe you make another try on art later in live?  It’s not a lifetime commitment for every artist.