Featured New game: Yea or Nay?

As in 'Ichthyosaur'.

 

Verybrad, I just want to thank you for starting this thread.

 

I concur!!!!
Yay!

 

Brad rocks!

 

Thanks .....

Are we done with this pair? Seems that these have elicited fewer comments and less strong reactions overall. Maybe everyone was distracted by the potato.

 

I think you are the third person who said they did not like them but provided no additional comments. I guess that is your prerogative but, if this is going to be a useful exercise, some critical analysis would be helpful. Don't mean to put people on the spot but I think some insight into why people think art is bad can be as much or more helpful than positive comments.

I might add that one of the reasons I specifically chose this pair is due to the fact that I thought that people might not particularly like them.

 

There is no frame for painting A. Here is painting B with frame.

 

2 things 2 remember Brad......


1. De gustibus non disputandum est (rather than De gustibus non est disputandum) is a Latin maxim meaning "In matters of taste, there can be no disputes"

2. If you don't have anything nice to say.....don't say anything at all !!

If the items are not to ones taste , there may on occasion be no good reason to comment .....

& Skeez said as much !

 

I've been busy and also wasn't sure what I'd say, so hadn't commented.

I don't really like or dislike A or B, and think they both have merit in terms of color and visual design. I see them as designs that have potential for commercial purposes... contemporary rugs, fabric designs, or the basis for modern ceramics or other applied uses.

As paintings, not for my decor, but they could be apt for some modern environments.

 

I understand this in polite company .... but that may not apply here .... LOL! This is supposed to be an exercise in critical analysis so I thought the above worth mentioning. It is fine if some don't want to comment beyond the Yea or Nay as given in the title of the thread but we won't get very far if that is all we get. Consider it mentioned and I won't bring it up again.

 

Hi Brad,
I had nothing to add or say to the last two only because I did not like either one. I was always told not to say anything at all, it is better than lying. They both remind me of stained glass panels. One old, one new and nether of them stir any comments at all.
greg

 

In daily life, I have trouble getting people to listen to my ideas. Those of you who have read my posts in this thread will have some idea WHY. Anywayyyyy... the very idea of having Brad actually ASK for my thoughts... and then he and others actually pay attention to them... is... irresistible!!!!!!!!!!!! Count on me for something to say every time!!!!

 

My comments on the paintings ..... Both have merits but I don't think either are particularly successful. I actually like A better than B.

Painting A:

This is a still life treated in a semi-abstract way. I appreciate the treatment and the technique. The blocking treatment moves it more toward abstraction. It may be hard to tell from the photo but the painting has heavy impasto and really raises from the canvas. I think it is a technique that adds interest and makes the painting more dynamic. I think where this fails is that it is either not real enough looking, or abstract enough. It needs to go one way or the other.

I think this painting would have better impact on a larger scale. It is a bold painting and the small size tends to trivialize it. I might actually hang this one if I didn't have better.


Painting B:

Not sure where to start on this one since there is so much I do not like about it. I do like the composition and get what the artist was going for. I get the Christian bent of the painting and find that aspect successful. It is also a modern still life that would fit into an MCM interior well.

I find the technique on this one to be insipid. A lot of effort went in to planning this out and executing the basic design. I think the artists spent all their effort doing so and just colored in the painting afterwards. It is flat and lifeless. There is no technique or brushwork to the painting. The color choices are, for the most part, bland. It doesn't stir any emotion in me at all.

Those bean-headed people drive me crazy. The way the two on the sides have their heads tilted makes no sense. I would think the painting stronger without any people in it at all or just with the central figure. I find the central figure's religious connotation to be too literal. I think we would get the idea without a halo if that is what we are seeing.

 

Just a general comment, I've developed a kind of specialized interest in wall-hanging type art...my walls have almost nothing that isn't NW Coast native art...not that I don't visit museums and galleries and look at many other sorts of art too.
but as a result, my comments on other styles of art have tended toward "Oh, I like that" or "very interesting" which I didn't feel would add much to the thread. I do read it and find it very interesting though......

 

Some final comments on these two and I will post a new pair in a bit. As I said above, I chose these two at least in part due to the fact that I felt some people would not like them. The other reason I chose them is that they were both modern still-life paintings with differing techniques.

Painting A is signed T. Denver and, based on others with this exact signature, I have come to the conclusion that it is a factory painting. It does not have too much age to it. It was purchased at the thrift store for a few dollars. I put it in a simple black frame and sold it for around $25.00 in my store after having it sit for quite awhile.

Painting B is signed V. Wheeler and titled Feast. I was never able to attribute it. It likely dates to the 50s or 60s based on the board and the framing. I sold this in my store very quickly for around $150.00. I believe it went to an out of town dealer.

I purchased it and another painting by the same artist for $10.00 each from the thrift store. I think the second painting to be stronger in execution, if not in subject and composition. I have not been able to sell it for under $100.00 in both my store and on ebay. I have not tried for a couple years and still have it. Here it is for comparison.

 

5th Pair

Painting A:


Painting B:

 

Hi,
B I can identify with. Many the days I woke up and looked like this. Those fun drugs at the Disco getting home at 8AM and waking up at noon to go to work. What the Hell was I thinking? At least I did not accidentally kill anybody. Those were such "wonderful" times. I really wonder how I survived to live today.
greg

 

I'll think about these latest and hope to come back later. My first impressions are that Painting A, because of the sepia-like tones and the hairstyle and clothing, reminds me of an antique photograph. Maybe copied from one?

The second one reminds me of a James Dean-like Rebel Without a Cause.

Neither of these speaks to the painting or the style. Just impressions of the images depicted.

 

I don't like either because they are depressing to me.
It's not that I've had Greg's "wonderful" experiences though.
~
Pick one or die horribly? A