OAT aD

Bees

PRS:

Bie

A Small

Masterpiece

As restaurants go, I don't think

that I've ever pigged out at the
Vancouver Art Gallery and almost
always walked away hungry. To eat
properly one needs a well-balanced
meal, full of vitamins + minerals.
The VAG has limited its menu to
avant garde white bread called
"Wonder," with dessert once in
awhile called Stella & Rauschenberg
"Twinkies". How dare I, a lowly
artist, take on the museum and
label it! For years it has labeled
itself as avant garde, oh yes!
Motherhood and I have not heard this
motto rebuked by the present trail
boss. In any event, this philosophy
is still evident in the kinds of
shows still being presented.

avant garde:

the most daring of the experimental-
ists and innovators of original and
startling unconventional designs,
ideas or techniques during a parti-
cular period.

This sounds like a formula, but a
formula for what? Art? Visual art?
This sounds like moist, warm ground
to breed a race of unconventional
innovators of ideas and techniques,
and only for the sake of being uncon-
ventional and original. This is white
bread being force-fed to the people
of Vancouver. Avant garde--is this
what gave us the great artists of the
past like Rembrandt, Lautrec or
Picasso? Is this the formula for the
art of the future? Avant garde--
innovators from what? Original--as
compared with what? Because the VAG
does not have a substantial permanent
collection, most of the people of
Vancouver don't know from what or as
compared with what. This avant garde
news reporting of the most recent,
daring experiments is officially
putting weight and setting direction
in the visual art world, waving a
carrot to the Wonder Bread factories
of the world. Could it be that this
Wonder Bread factory of ideas is
quite a different mold from the.
visual art mold of Monet? Visual
artists do not usually direct art

galleries, write in the art maga-
zines or critique the gallery shows;
they want to work visually on prints
or sculpture. A Catch 22. Most art
directors come from the non-studio,
academic world of art history, the
world that writes the words and in-
fluences the direction of art. The
world as different from the studio

artist as day is from night.

To the art historian, to under-
stand a painting is to read about it,
to understand rather than experience.
This would be like seeing a hundred
films on nature, reading about it,
feeling that you know what nature is
without ever having lived in nature.
You cannot put on this page the living

of nature or the visual meaning of a

print. You cannot discover visual art by reading about it; it will
be something else, not visual art. On occasion, the art historian
does visit a real museum, does see real art. In most cases, seeing it
with textbook eyes, they know what to look for and feel even
before their eyes make contact. The books and magazines have
tried to translate the visual language into verbal language, they
have tried to put verbal meaning to something which cannot have
a verbal meaning. It is impossible to give a verbal meaning to great
composers like Bartok or Steve Reich. In our visually illiterate
society it takes many years of study and preparation to be able to
use this visual language, and just possibly a lifetime to become
fluent. These young art historians with very little visual partici-
pation walk out the doors of academica with what they think is a
complete understanding of this visual language into the waiting
arms of the conceptualist and idea artists. This is art that needs no
translation into their language, art where it’s meaning can be
written down and verbalized into their own idiom. With this
verbal palette, not only can they understand it, but they can make
it and call it art! Art it might be, but not visual art, and this is
where the main problem lies. The problem also lies in the fact

i Sede ae

AN INTELLECTUAL JOKE

There was a man who was stranded in the desert because
| his camel had died. He had run out of food and, as a result,
was starving to death. He had just discovered an oasis,
which he had checked thoroughly to make sure it was not
a mirage, when two airplanes flew by overhead. They were
too high to be able to see him so after waving frantically
for ten minutes he despondently rested in the shade of the
only palm tree in the oasis. And it was a good thing he
had taken cover in the shade, for a few minutes later he
heard two “Thumps”. On investigating he realized that
he had narrowly escaped that most horrible of deaths—
being brained by a falling St. Bernard with a brick in
its mouth and a case of smelly cheese.

For All Grad Students:

Well, teachers are my lessons done
/ cannot do another one

They laughed and laughed and said
Well, child are your lessons done.
Are your lessons done

Are your lessons done.

Leonard Cohen

~ this idiom. It is a mutual admiration society, self-perpetuating.

Visual artists do not want to run museums, write the articles.
Most artists | know avoid reading the art magazines and only look
at the pictures, usually the reading has nothing to do with the
pictures anyway. Young artists need nutritious visual stimulation
to grow. | am not saying that the good visual artists are the only
ones to understand visual art. Visual art in British Columbia has
run off the tracks, it has been processed and refined into a very
sterile commodity. This Wonder Bread is being fed to the starving
community of Western Canada; this visual cultural wasteland
where all crumbs offered in the desert are consumed. The young
artists of British Columbia cannot survive on a diet of video and
conceptual art. This bland diet is bringing about an epidemic of
visual malnutrition.

“Once a man looked for fire

With a lighted lantern

Had he known what fire was
he could have cooked his rice much sooner.”

/

Chinese

You will never find this fire by looking through glasses
colored with avant garde. The people of British Columbia are
tinder-dry and waiting for this flame. This flame would be fed
with solid meals of printmaking, sculpture and painting; people
like Paul Klee, Munch, Larry Rivers, Jim Dine, Matisse and juried
contemporary visual art shows. To eat at the Vancouver Art
Gallery is to starve. Vancouver is malnourished, in a state of
visual famine, in an already visually illiterate area of Canada. The
daily ration of Emily Carr and the infamous) soup of Seven are
the main staple of the bread line. | am sick of Emily Carr! Where
are the Lautrecs, Goyas and Jasper Johns, the red meat of the
great supermarket in the sky! Why are we stuck with this diet of
kippered snacks and white bread! Avant garde — innovators from
what? Innovators from Larry Rivers, Paul Klee, Monet, Duer and
Michaelangelo; that’s from what! The cornucopia, a visual feast
for a starving society. Conceptual art, the medium of ideas has its
place, but not in the world of the visual artist, a separate museum,
a museum of concepts. The line between visual and conceptual
can be fine at times but this is almost never the case; and it is
impossible to determine by the conceptually trained. The world of
conceptual art has become a participatory creative handle for the
art historian. He in doing so has perpetuated his own future, or is
trying to. Visual art and conceptual art are two completely dif-
ferent worlds; as different as music is from poetry. Completely
different mediums merging from time to time, but, nonetheless,
different. The Vancouver Art Gallery is a museum of visual art,
the battery charger of all young visual artists. Why is it that we
must travel so far outside Vancouver to get this electrical trans-
fusion?! My voice is for a stronger visual art museum, with a gutsy
permanent collection, maybe one or two Emily Carrs, sell the
rest and buy one Lautrec painting and a few Rembrandt etchings.

SP eS i Tz fi ES sot” re yah POY CER eae :
Meanwhile, at another joyful meeting

Nihilists of Vancouver......

i be ley A

THIS CRUZLTY MUST
BE STOPPED!I!2222!

of the

t ZABA THE GENTLE SADIST

porary visual artists on its board to set directions and hold the
reins.

There should be a strong dedication to acquire a well roun-
ded solid menu in the permanent collection. Why is it not possible
to have important painters or printmakers of the impressionist
period in our gallery? This avant garde formule also carries with it
the historical myth that all new art of the future must be far out
and out of the general public’s recognition and acceptances. This
also is a ‘‘Catch 22”. Museums pointing to history for justification
bring recognition to conceptual art and thus try to change the law
of history. How does one inspire the composer without the
inspiration of great music[ In the best of worlds, the development
of an artist is a slow process. He or she must work their way
through many of the great masters of the past; this visual heritage
belongs to them. It takes time to get into the mind of the masters
and see the world through their eyes. To feel the touch of their
hand across the canvas, to find the strength of a line and the
power of a shape moving through space, to find the lightening that
breathes life into art! you can not produce art by telling students
about art or letting them read about it; it will never happen. You
can only set up the environment for it to happen in. It is hard to
write about something which you can not write about. | felt it
and understood it many times as a student, looking into the eyes
of Lautrec and Degas, feeling the goose bumps going through my
body and electricity running through my veins.

The confusion and again, problem, comes when the concep-
tual artist squeezes and forces out the visual artist from the
already sparse showing spaces. The conceptual artists should have
their show but not at the expense of the visual artists. | feel that
it is imperative that we recognize these two separate art forms as
being precisely just that, two separate art forms, and stop trying to
mix them. They will not fit into the same mold and will only
create confusion when tried.

The avant garde will not happen by gritting ones teeth. The
avant garde was what was going on the walls of the caves a million
years ago. Avant garde is just whatever the visual artists are doing
now, and the less this word is worshipped, the less attention the
better.
ilies |

'
i

|

A Small
Masterpiece

As restaurants go, I don't think
that I've ever pigged out at the
Vancouver Art Gallery and almost
always walked away hungry. To eat
properly one needs a well-balanced
meal, full of vitamins + minerals.
The VAG has limited its menu to
avant garde white bread called
"Wonder," with dessert once in
awhile called Stella & Rauschenberg
"Dwinkies". How dare I, a lowly
artist, take on the museum and
label it! For years it has labeled
itself as avant garde, oh yes
Motherhood and I have not heard this
motto rebuked by the present trail
boss. In any event, this philosophy
is still evident in the kinds of
shows still being presented.

avant garde
the most daring of the experimental-
ists and innovators of original and
startling unconventional designs,
ideas or techniques during a parti-
cular period.

This sounds like a formula, but a
formula for what? Art? Visual art?
This sounds like moist, warm ground
to breed a race of unconventional
innovators of ideas and techniques,
and only for the sake of being uncon

ventional and original. This is white

bread being force-fed to the people
of Vancouver. Avant garde--is this

what gave us the great artists of the

past like Rembrandt, Lautrec.or
Picasso? Is this the formula for the
art of the future? Avant garde--
innovators from what? Original--as
compared with what? Because the VAG

does not have a substantial permanent

collection, most of the people of
Vancouver don't know from what or as
compared with what. This avant garde
news reporting of the most recent,
daring experiments is officially
putting weight and setting direction
in the visual art world, waving a
carrot to the Wonder Bread factories
of the world. Could it be that this
Wonder Bread factory of ideas is
quite a different mold from the
visual art mold of Monet? Visual
artists do not usually direct art

galleries, write in the art maga-
zines or critique the gallery shows;
they want to work visually on prints
or sculpture. A Catch 22. Most art
directors come from the non-studio,
academic world of art history, the
world that writes the words and in-
fluences the direction of art. The
world as different from the studio
artist as day is from night.

To the art historian, to under-

stand a painting is to read about it,
to understand rather than experience.

This would be like seeing a hundred
films on nature, reading about it,

feeling that you know what nature is
without ever having lived in nature.

You cannot put on this page the living

of nature or the visual meaning of a

print. You cannot discover visual art by reading about it; it will
be something ese, not visual at. On ofcasion, the art historian
does vist areal museum, does se real art In most eases, seeing It
with textbook eyes, they know what to 100K for and fee! even
before thee eyes make contact. The books and magazines have
tied to translate the visual language into verbal language, they
hhave red to put verbal meaning to something which cannot have
Verbal meaning. It is impossible to ve a verbal meaning to great
Composers lke Gartok or Steve Reich, In our visually literate
Soctety It takes many years of study and preparation to be able to
‘se this visual language, and just posbly 2 lifetime to become
fluent. These young. at historians with very litle visual parte:
pation walk out the doors of academica with what they think sa
Compete understanding of this visal language into the wating
arms of the conceptalst and idea artists, Tiss art that needs no
‘ansatlon into their language, aft where it's meaning can be
‘written down and verballzed into their own idiom. With this
\erbal palete, not only an they understand it, But they can make
1t and ell tart! Art it might be, but not visual art, and this s
where the main problem lies. The problem also ies in the fact

AN INTELLECTU:

There was a man who was stranded in the desert because
his camel had died. He had run out of food and, asa result,
wes starving to death. He had just discovered an oasis,
which he had checked thoroughly to make sure it was not
‘a mirage, when two airplanes flew by overhead. They were
t00 high to be able to see him so after waving frantically
for ten minutes he despondentiy rested in the shade of the
only palm tree in the oasis. And it was a good thing he
had taken cover in the shade, for a few minutes later he
hheard two “Thumps”. On investigating he realized that
hhe had narrowly. escaped that most horrible of deaths
being brained by a falling St. Bernard with a brick in
its mouth and a case of smelly cheese.

For All Grad Students

Well, teachers are my lessons done
cannot do another one

They laughed and laughed and said
Well, child are your lessons done.
‘Are your lessons done

‘Are your lessons done.

Leonard Cohen

‘his liom. 1¢ fs @ mutual admiration socety, sel-perpetuating.

Visual artists do not want to run museums, write the articles,
Most artists | know avold reading the at magarins and only Took
a1 the picture, usually the reading has nating to Jo with the
Pictures anyway. Young artist need nutritious vival stimulation
ones to understand visual art. Visual atin British Columbia has
fn off the tracks, I has Been procesied and refined Into avery
Sterile commodity. This Wonder Bread fs being fed tothe starving

Community of Western Canada; this visual cultural wasteland
where all crumbs offered in the desert are consumed. The young
USS of British Columbia cannot survive on a det of video and
‘Conceptual ar. This bland dit fs Bringing about an epidemic of
visval malnutrition,

‘Once a man looked for fre
With alighted fanten
Hane known what fire was

Chinese

You wil never find this fire by looking through glases
colored with avant garde. The people of British Columbia are
Underdry and. walting for this flame. This flame would be fed
with solid meals of printmaking, sculpture and paintings people
Tike Paul Klee, Munch, Larry Rivers, Jim Dine, Matisse and juried
contemporary visual at shows. To eat at the Vancouver Art
Gallery fe {0 starve. Vancouver is malnourished, in a state of
sual Famine, in am already visually literate area of Canada. The
{ally ration of Emily Car and the infamous! foup of Seven are
the main staple ofthe bread line. | am sick of Emily Carr! Where
ae the Lautees, Goyas and Jasper Johns, the red meat of the
ifeat supermarket in the sky! Why are we stuck with this diet of
Kippered snacks and white bread! Avantgarde ~ innovators fom
what? Innovators trom Larry Rivers, Paul Klee, Monet, Duer and
Michaelangelo; that's from what! The cornucopia, 2 visal feast
fora starving Society. Conceptual at, the medium of ideas has i

place, but notin the world ofthe visual artist, Separate museum,
2 museum of concepts. The line between Visual and conceptual
an be fine at times but this fs almost never the casey and it

Impossible to determine by the conceptually trained. The World of
conceptual art has become a participatory erative handle forthe
re historian, He in doing so has perpetuated his own future, ori
trying to. Visual art and conceptual att are two completely dif
{erent worlds; as diferent as music is from poetry. Completely
different mediums merging from time to time, But, nonetheless,
diferent. The Vancouver Art Gallery is 2. museum of visual

the battery charger ofall young visual artists. Why isi that we
‘must travel So far outside Vancouver to get this electrical tans:
fusion?! My voice s fora stronger visual art museum, with a gutsy
permanent collection, maybe one’ of two Emly Cars, sll the
fest and Buy one Lautrec painting and afew Rembrandt etchings.

Meanwhile,at another joyful meeting
of the Nihilists of Vancouver.

THIS CRUELTY MUST
BE STOPPEDIIIIt!t

avant gatde was what Was going onthe wall of the aves am
Yeats ago. Avantgarde Is just whatever the visual artists are doing
how, and’the less this word ie worshipped, the les attention the
bette

porary visual artists on its board to set directions and hold the

“There should be 2 strong dedication to acquite a well roun
ded sos mend inthe permanent collection. Why i tot posible
to have important palnters or printmakers of the impressionist
Period in our gallery? This avantgarde formule also caries with It
the historical myth that all new art of the future must be far out
fnd out of the eneral public's recognition and acceptances. This
bo Isa "Catch 22". Museums pointing to history for justification
bring recognition to conceptual at and thus ty to change the law
ff history. How does one inspire the composer without the
Inspiration of great musiel Inthe best of words, the development
fof an artist Is 2 slow proces, He or she must work thelr Way
through many of the great masters of the past; this visual heritage
belongs to ther. It takes time to get into the mind ofthe masters

land ste the world through thelr eyes. To feel the touch of thelr

hand across the cama, to find the strength of a line and the
power ofa shape moving through space, to find the lightening that
breathes life imo art! you can not produce art by teling students
aout at of letting them read about iti wll never happen. You
an only setup the envionment for it to happen in, Its hard to
Write about something which you can not write about. I f
and understood It many times asa student, looking into the eyes
of Lautrec and Degas, feling the goose bumps going through my
body and electiity running through my veins

The confusion and again, problem, comes when the concep:
tual artst-aqueezes and forces out the Visual artst from the
tlready sparse showing spaces. The conceptual artists should have
their show but not at the expense of the visual artists. fee that
Its imperative that we recognize these two Separate art forms 35.
being precisely just that, two separate at forms, and stop trying to
imix them, They will not fit Ino the same mold and will only

{reate confusion when tied.

“The avant gatde will nox happen by grtting ones teeth. The