The Great Art Debate

[Prufrock]

It's definitely cool.

[William the White]

It's definitely cool.

I almost believe you. Why?

[Prufrock]

Given the shite fountain-y bollocks you see in nondescript urban 'landscapes' - to see something with so much movement, which makes me think of Guinness, strikes me as pretty cool.

[Gooner Girl]

I think this is pretty cool..

I think that's great.

[thebish]

Why?

Seriously...

there are lots of statues of horses around London... this one arrests my attention because it cleverly - and yet at the same time very simply - captures movement and "wild freedom" in what is quite a closed/shut-in/rigid urban landscape - it's what you might call a "visceral" response.

[TANGODANCER]

It's a clever, eye-catching and pleasing alternative to yellow bananas and "sculptures" that nobody knows anything about (usually including the artists).

[Verbal]

I can hear the horses thundering through the water when I see that. Like.

[William the White]

Why?

Seriously...

there are lots of statues of horses around London... this one arrests my attention because it cleverly - and yet at the same time very simply - captures movement and "wild freedom" in what is quite a closed/shut-in/rigid urban landscape - it's what you might call a "visceral" response.

Touche...

I didn't like it myself - but might if I saw it in real life...

[thebish]

Why?

Seriously...

there are lots of statues of horses around London... this one arrests my attention because it cleverly - and yet at the same time very simply - captures movement and "wild freedom" in what is quite a closed/shut-in/rigid urban landscape - it's what you might call a "visceral" response.

Touche...

I didn't like it myself - but might if I saw it in real life...

why not?

[TANGODANCER]

Why?

Seriously...

there are lots of statues of horses around London... this one arrests my attention because it cleverly - and yet at the same time very simply - captures movement and "wild freedom" in what is quite a closed/shut-in/rigid urban landscape - it's what you might call a "visceral" response.

Touche...

I didn't like it myself - but might if I saw it in real life...

why not?

Not much emotional depth to plumb in four inches of water?

[Il Pirate]

The leading horse is white
the second horse is red
the third one is a black
the fourth one is a green....................


Anyone old enough to remember those lyrics?
A virtual £5 awaits the first to name song and band

[William the White]

Why?

Seriously...

there are lots of statues of horses around London... this one arrests my attention because it cleverly - and yet at the same time very simply - captures movement and "wild freedom" in what is quite a closed/shut-in/rigid urban landscape - it's what you might call a "visceral" response.

Touche...

I didn't like it myself - but might if I saw it in real life...

why not?

might think it 'decorative art'...

[Wandering Willy]

The leading horse is white
the second horse is red
the third one is a black
the fourth one is a green....................


Anyone old enough to remember those lyrics?
A virtual £5 awaits the first to name song and band

Four Horsemen - Axxis

[Il Pirate]

Very close; but no cigar..................or a virtual £5

[Worthy4England]

Vangelis etc...

[thebish]

might think it 'decorative art'...

you don't like any decorative art? you are saying that the idea it might be "decorative" is adequate reason to dislike it? (fair enough if you are - but it seems a bit rigidly dismissive...)

[William the White]

might think it 'decorative art'...

you don't like any decorative art? you are saying that the idea it might be "decorative" is adequate reason to dislike it? (fair enough if you are - but it seems a bit rigidly dismissive...)

Wouldn't like to generalise... But I'm not saying what you claim I'm saying...

I just don't think the horses are very interesting as art... But they are pretty... and will be great for family outings and the kids will enjoy them, and are a lot of fun... And, by and large, I really approve of their existence... They look like they might be great decoration for an urban environment in need of it... Good job, well done... As art, they don't do it for me, but I'm glad they do for you...

[thebish]

might think it 'decorative art'...

you don't like any decorative art? you are saying that the idea it might be "decorative" is adequate reason to dislike it? (fair enough if you are - but it seems a bit rigidly dismissive...)

Wouldn't like to generalise... But I'm not saying what you claim I'm saying...

I just don't think the horses are very interesting as art... But they are pretty... and will be great for family outings and the kids will enjoy them, and are a lot of fun... And, by and large, I really approve of their existence... They look like they might be great decoration for an urban environment in need of it... Good job, well done... As art, they don't do it for me, but I'm glad they do for you...

which is all fine! - a much better answer than your first!

your first answer sounded like the REASON you didn't like it (as I had asked why you didn't like it) was that you thought it was "decorative" - hard to read it any other way...) I understood your "visceral" explanation for "liking" art - that makes sense - and is also true for me - but I don't understand "liking" or "not liking" art based on the idea simply that it belongs to an arbitrary category... (in this case - "decorative")

these horse sculptures - for me - though I haven't seen them live - they lift my spirit - which is one (not the only) thing I ask art to do. (they don't "challenge" me, as some other works do, but "challenge" is not the only thing I ask of art...)

[William the White]

might think it 'decorative art'...

you don't like any decorative art? you are saying that the idea it might be "decorative" is adequate reason to dislike it? (fair enough if you are - but it seems a bit rigidly dismissive...)

Wouldn't like to generalise... But I'm not saying what you claim I'm saying...

I just don't think the horses are very interesting as art... But they are pretty... and will be great for family outings and the kids will enjoy them, and are a lot of fun... And, by and large, I really approve of their existence... They look like they might be great decoration for an urban environment in need of it... Good job, well done... As art, they don't do it for me, but I'm glad they do for you...

which is all fine! - a much better answer than your first!

your first answer sounded like the REASON you didn't like it (as I had asked why you didn't like it) was that you thought it was "decorative" - hard to read it any other way...) I understood your "visceral" explanation for "liking" art - that makes sense - and is also true for me - but I don't understand "liking" or "not liking" art based on the idea simply that it belongs to an arbitrary category... (in this case - "decorative")

these horse sculptures - for me - though I haven't seen them live - they lift my spirit - which is one (not the only) thing I ask art to do. (they don't "challenge" me, as some other works do, but "challenge" is not the only thing I ask of art...)

You know, thebish, I was really teasing you back after yours for the reference to 'visceral'... i was remembering 'decorative' as one of your categories for defining art, that's all, in one - or more - of your polemics with Tango on this thread... I wouldn't ever use it as a category myself...

[thebish]

You know, thebish, I was really teasing you back after yours for the reference to 'visceral'... i was remembering 'decorative' as one of your categories for defining art, that's all, in one - or more - of your polemics with Tango on this thread... I wouldn't ever use it as a category myself...

hmmm... but I wasn't teasing you about "visceral" - because - more than anything else that has been said on this entire thread - that IS the best description of the response that great art elicits... it cannot be easily explained rationally. I was actually taking you seriously....