Sunday 6 July 2014

I Never Said That, Rolf!


Hay, her sister Michelle, myself and Perry went out for dinner on Friday evening. The discussion got around to how Perry and I say things and then later deny it, having no recollection at all of what we were meant to have said.

This got me thinking.

Mary Magdelene to Jesus; "But you said you would come back from the dead!"

Jesus; "I never said that!"

Joan of Arc to God after being burned at the stake; "But you said I'd be invincible heading the Dauphin's army!"

God: "Sorry, I have no recollection of ever saying that!"

St Julian of Norwich to God; "But you said I should have myself bricked up in a wall!"

God; "I think you'll find you are mistaken!"

Seems to me it's a particular trait of women to imagine all manner of conversations with men which never actually took place...

Some woman in Bristol is complaining that her Rolf Harris painting for which she paid £28k is now worthless. In truth, it was worthless the moment it was painted. Art should be bought either because you like it, regardless of the price, or on its artistic merit - not because it was painted by a TV celeb.

Caravaggio actually killed a man, but despite that his paintings still sell for a pretty penny due to their artistic merit. I doubt any Rolf Harris or Ronnie Wood painting will be gracing art museums in 50 or 100 years time. There may, however, be a Hirst or an Emin, but solely as evidence of how the art world went totally bonkers in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. In that respect those works are important landmarks in the history of art, but not works having artistic merit in themselves.

Anyone who buys art because of to the celebrity of the artist is either a fool, or a Machiavellian manipulator of public taste (like Charles Saatchi) and out to fleece the unwary. While being an excellent signpost of fashion, the public is rarely a good arbiter of taste, as evidenced by the dross on TV these days.


1 comment:

Alan Burnett said...

I once appeared on a Jimmy Saville radio show back in the 70s and I said to someone after, "you have got to admire that Jimmy Saville, he was really nice to the kids who were attending the recording of the show". I would now like to deny ever having said this.