Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 26, 1992 TAG: 9201240384
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: PATRICIA F. HUTSON
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
BRING BACK THE ART PEOPLE ENJOY, AND SUPPORT FOR FUNDING WILL FOLLOW
It's ironic that while the money of the ordinary taxpayer is used for art funding, in recent years much controversy has been generated with exhibits that the general public finds at best offensive, at worst obscene.Small wonder that art funding is a victim of early and severe cutbacks in times of economic trouble. Yet the general public is overwhelmingly drawn to tasteful, realistic art and would favor supporting it.
Representational art has been rejected by experts as being copies of existing objects. Yet when a person sees an image in everyday life that is attractive to him it isn't the surface view that draws him, it's the interaction of color, the play of light, emotions evoked by that image. If artists are talented enough to create genuine art they capture elusive qualities that appeal to the soul.
Although most people haven't the time or resources to study art in depth like the "experts," they appreciate it through their emotions instead of their minds. Isn't it possible that this is a better way of judging art?
In the summer of 1984, to mark the birth of one of its most famous sons, sculptor and painter Amedeo Modigliani (1884-1920), Livorno, Italy, hosted an exhibition of his sculptures from collectors around the world. There was a much-publicized attempt to dredge an old canal in which, it was said, a depressed young Modigliani had thrown some of his work.
Amid much excitement, three stone heads were actually discovered, dubbed Modi 1, Modi 2 and Modi 3. Despite the sculptor's daughter having told newspaper reporters in Paris that her father never threw away any heads, and although other dissenting voices were added to hers, the heads were put to a series of tests and pronounced authentic Modiglianis by many well-known art historians and critics.
Three young college students (none art students) then came forward to confess that for fun they had created the head of Modi 2 and thrown it into the canal to give the searchers something to find.
Challenged to prove their claims by creating another head, the boys obliged with hammers, a small piece of chalk to sketch the outline, a mallet, two chisels, a screwdriver and a steel brush attached to a power drill.
The experts were doubly shocked when a longshoreman and Sunday painter named Angelo Froglia called a news conference to announce that he had created the other two heads and had recently thrown them into the canal. He proved his claim with a videotape shot of him creating the heads, and he explained that he wanted to provoke debate, challenge the art market and prove all images of art are illusory.
By the end of the summer, the affair was known as the "Hoax of the Century." It also was unique in art forgeries for a lack of motive of gain. The glee of the public, frustrated with art so obscure that it called for experts to interpret it, was obvious.
Perhaps we should all follow the example of one of the students, Pietro Luridiana, who made the remark that in the future he would decide for himself what was art. We should be allowed to do so without criticism from an elite group who considers the education of their minds a better gauge of what constitutes genuine art than an ordinary person's feelings of response.
If we bring art back to the people, then support for art funding will increase. Our children will have something to soothe their stress-weary souls besides drugs and more to occupy their minds than the drive to create money. If we bring art back to the people, by bringing enrichment to their souls, many could be helped to survive the material deprivation this recession has brought.
Patricia Fain Hutson, from Newport, is an artist and free-lance writer.
920124 ARTSPACEO STORY #24609 TOPIC SUNDAY-26 KEYWORDCOL DESK AUTHOR:MACKLIN01/24/92 carolyn chiffed sunday extra page 5 headline byline type author
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