What is art?
Humans have been asking the question for thousands of years.
Michael Dagostino, the director of Campbelltown Arts Centre, is clearly frustrated when he hears me say that some locals don’t think much of the exhibitions he puts on these days.
We caught up for coffee yesterday and his argument is that if you visit the art gallery to see all of the five or six major exhibitions it puts on during the course of the year you will agree that there is something for everyone.
Dagostino, who’s been running our arts centre for more than five years, also gets frustrated when he hears that people think hardly any local artists get a go during the big exhibition of the year, the Fisher’s Ghost Festival art prize.
His response: We get about 700 entries, we hang 400 and half of those are from locals.
But one of the criticisms of the Fisher’s ghost art prize is that an old fashioned painting has not won for years.
I don’t envy Dagostino his challenge of trying to please every art taste.
The current exhibition by controversial Queensland artist Mike Parr is a good example of this.
If you haven’t been to see it, all of the art gallery’s exhibition rooms are filled up by giant plywood walls.
As you walk past them you get a feeling you’re in a labyrinth or a maze, but a very simple, basic model.
As I walked around the entire installation I thought about what it all meant, and maybe that’s the point because apparently Entry by Tranquilization Only wants to start a conversation about the role of the artist in a post modern world.
There was just one other person checking it out at the time, and we left together so I asked this person about Parr’s exhibition.
If I’d wanted to smell wood I’d go to a forest, she sniffed.
It’s true the pleasant smell of the plywood is part of the experience, but whether that’s intentional or not is not clear.
But if the smell of plywood is not your cup of tea, on entering the art gallery turn right instead of left and check out the little See Me Hear Me exhibition, which is works by people with mental health issues.
There are some wonderful, poignant works among it all – some that make you sad and others that lift your spirit.
See Me, Hear Me ends on September 26 so if you want to catch it you’d better hurry; Mike Parr’s Entry by Tranquilization Only comes down on October 16 to make way for Fisher’s Ghost.
Whether you think an exhibition is wonderful or a right stinker, Michael Dagostino says his door is open and he would love to have a chat to you about it.
On the other hand if you know the answer to the question what is art, please talk to me about it.
