Art, real art

If you have been reading my blog for a while you have probably noticed that I have a certain disdain for modern art. I’ll be honest, I hate it, it’s ugly, it’s angry and way too political in a very narrow sense.  That is a big part of the reason why I am no longer a docent at any Art Museum.

Yesterday I put down my money and became a member of the Autry Museum Of The American West.  This is a big reason why:They work in conjunction with organizations like this to show what I call real art. Yes, it is a large gallery showing, many of the works here are for sale. Earlier in the year they have a similar exhibition with another organization.Many of the paintings are plein-air, wonderful landscapes, in this case mostly from California. There are examples of hyper-realism, such as this marvelous still-life that would look at home in an 18th C. Dutch gallery.I have a real fondness for Troupe L’oeil, Fool the eye paintings. Really most paintings are just that, creating the illusion of three dimensions on a two-dimensional surface. Here is a more modern version, the wood is painted by the way.

And here is a much more traditional version.This grabbed me, I love the series Last Remaining Seats, the big fundraiser of the LA Conservancy. Very few shows are at the Palace, it is a much smaller venue than the rest.

I can attest, when I was a LACMA docent, we got the yearly statistics of visitors. Whenever there was an exhibit of some kind of craft, be it glass, ceramics, fashion or objects from the Arts and Crafts movement, the number of visitors was at least triple the number who went to see the modern exhibits.  LACMA would never show this kind of exhibit – it is beneath them. The arbiters of art are elitist intellectual snobs, they talk about bringing the masses into museums, but that is talk. They don’t really mean it, they love having their highbrow setting away from the riff-raff. I wasn’t the only one enjoying this. I saw another couple who clearly was there to buy something. There was also a group of disabled adults, seriously disabled, they were there for an outing, I sincerely hope that some of them reacted well to the art.

Then I stepped outside to another kind of exhibit. California Yarnscape, not just yarnbombing. Using all kinds of yarn and techniques to create works that signify to the maker what California means to them.In this case the maker used all sweater to create what is probably her own dog. Notice the poppies?Although this was made before the Super-bloom, it is wonderful to be able to go out to nature this year and actually enjoy this scene in real life.Each person has their own ideas about what California means to them, I’m guessing this is the ocean. Gotta love the pompoms.Crochet, knitting, embroidery, everything using yarn in one way or another. It is bright, colorful and fun.

This is why I joined, The Autry may be small, but they bring in Art, the kind of art that people actually really enjoy.  I want to support them so they continue to do so.