Arts Week!

jiggajt

Anyone been to anything interesting yet. Went to a few galleries myself and to RSAG on Sat night. Very impressed with the new set theatre. When langtons build something they do it right and the sound system is amazing unlike the nightclub. Anyone been to anything else?

Raze_them_all

Went up to weapons just to check it out.

fabbydabby

Any good?

I went to the exhibition in Little Dunnes.

I know fk all about art right, but I disliked almost every single piece I saw in there bar one of an overalled farmer with horses. Now this may be because the artwork on display there is going over my philinistinic head and I can't appreciate good work when I see it, or indeed it may be because the pieces on exhibition were a load of sh!te. I don't know. But I know that I didn't like them.

I have heard good reports from yer boy Mick Minogue's exhibition "growing up in the 80's" or summit.

Want to check out weapons too.

Raze_them_all

Meh it was basically ****e only one pic that I'd consider to be any good, a few the army boys standing around, so it was prob done while they were working!! woth something like 10k made me laugh, the one behind the counter isn half bad though!

ztoical

Patrick Scott in the Blackbird is a nice show if you like Scott's work or are into printmaking [I am biased for this show as 6 of my pieces are downstairs in the gallery] The Butler Gallery have a really interesting show on as does the Craft Gallery across from the castle. Lots of out door sculpture pieces this year. Saw one getting broken by two kids and the artist, mother and father having an awful row [artists pointing out there's a sign and rope around the work and the mother screaming about how her kids can't read, very entertaining]. One of the artists had a series of plates they'd cut sections out of which I know doesn't sound cool but they actually were really interesting. There's an artists collective based in Castlecomber gone into the blue building on william street - mix of work, some miles better then other, some nice ceramic work that was very affordable but had already sold when I went around on the saturday.

The Weapons show was a bit meh, from a distance the work looks really solid but up close not so much. Didn't like the trees series at all and they didn't make any sense in relation to the weapons series. The work in the old Dunnes at the start of high street is just a giant mess. The layout makes no sense and there doesn't seem to be any overall concept behind the work picked. There could well be one or two nice pieces in there but they are hidden by the amount of utter rubbish with ugly frames. There's an artist exhibiting some of his comic work upstairs in the castle [above the Butler] not worth going to see but if your in seeing the show in the Butler you might as well pop and look. The Museum of Broken Relationships in the Arts office is beyond a joke, what a stupid idea for a show.

Going to head out to Callan and Thomastown tomorrow and check the shows out there.

Ollchailin

ztoical wrote: »

The Museum of Broken Relationships in the Arts office is beyond a joke, what a stupid idea for a show.

God, I thought that the Museum of Broken Relationships was brilliant, very touching. Amazing how something as simple as a coat or a teddy bear or a hair bobbin can remind you of one person. The one of the clothes peg reminding someone of their mother who passed away suddenly was beautiful. It's not just about romantic relationships, it's about all different types of relationships we can have in our lives- even with pets!

I found it very emotional to be honest- I'd say if you've only gone through a bereavement or a break up it would really get to you. Or maybe I'm just an overly emotional woman myself!!

I know absolutely nothing about art but I think maybe that's why I liked this exhibition- to me it was more like a collection of stories than something that was supposed to look good. Think I'll go in again before it ends.

ztoical

Ollchailin wrote: »

God, I thought that the Museum of Broken Relationships was brilliant, very touching. Amazing how something as simple as a coat or a teddy bear or a hair bobbin can remind you of one person. The one of the clothes peg reminding someone of their mother who passed away suddenly was beautiful. It's not just about romantic relationships, it's about all different types of relationships we can have in our lives- even with pets!

I found it very emotional to be honest- I'd say if you've only gone through a bereavement or a break up it would really get to you. Or maybe I'm just an overly emotional woman myself!!

I know absolutely nothing about art but I think maybe that's why I liked this exhibition- to me it was more like a collection of stories than something that was supposed to look good. Think I'll go in again before it ends.

The fact someone got paid to gather together stuff for it annoys the crap out of me when there are artists out there who are actually creating art - when my dad died at the end of '07 I created over 30 monoprints and published a book [see my sig]. If they did something with the pieces, created something new, rather then just dumping them on a stand and printing out the sob story to go with them then maybe it would have been interesting but it wasn't it was a pile of stuff in a room, you could go to Oxfam and find the same thing. I think you could do alot more then what they did with that show.

And to have it on during the arts festival when that space could have been used to promote upcoming local talent makes it that little more annoying.

jiggajt

Wasnt mad about the dunnes exhibition either. The lighting really annoyed me. It was flickering the whole time and i had to leave. Saw the comic book thing in the castle. It was ok but a bit weird. I have to agree on the museum of broken relationships. I wasnt mad about it. I thought someone keeping manequin hand or a prosthesis or a vile of someones tears or a dildo as a mommento is a bit strange and i dont really consider it an art creation. I could see how someone else would like it though.

Anyone been to donal dineen's thing in the maltings?

Also does anyone else find that the booklet timetable is wrong on a number of occasions and quite confusing?

Threadhead

I've been to a few bits and bobs so far and it's all been pretty damn good. The Set Theatre is absolutely fantastic. It's going to give music, theatre and nightlife in Kilkenny a serious boost. The place looks lovely and it's still not even finished. The RSAG gig there was amazing on Saturday night. Also went to the GAA retropective from the 1930's last night and the place is just as good for screenings.

Haven't seen a lot of exhibitions yet but Mick Minogue's one up on the Coach Road is a must see. A lot of his paintings have sold out already so it's proving very popular. Possibly because of the added bonus of sweets and Sega Megadrive. But all that aside, the paintings are great.

Got a few more things to chalk down but all in all the festivals been going great. Could do with a lift in weather mind.

fabbydabby

The fact someone got paid to gather together stuff for it annoys the crap out of me when there are artists out there who are actually creating art.

But isn't this the age old problem? Hacks and people without talent get swept along successfully with genuine artists? How exactly do you define art?

I'd say people looked down their nose at Jackson Pollock in the day. I certainly can't see the artistic merit in his work. Or what about Damian Hirst? Or architect Frank Gehry who The Simpsons parodied as simply getting his ideas by scrunching up a sheet of A4. An architecture lecturer my mate had in college referred to Gehry's work as "Arbitrary". Take from that what you will.

The same goes for music.... would a classical composer or Jazz Virtuoso be peeved at RSAG sharing the Set Theatre stage with him?

I saw a painting called "blue" that was just a blue canvas going for something ridiculous one year at the arts festival. And I thought that if someone is stupid enough to pay a grand or so for that, they actually DESERVE to get ripped off.

You can buy hand painted abstract canvasses up in Woodies for like 30/40 quid. I would love to put some on display at the arts festival with prices inflated by a factor of ten and see if any of them are sold, because frankly, I can't tell the difference, and I don't think very many people can.

I am reminded of the wine taster on Ray D'Arcy who commented about the delicate, subtle yet distinct differences in three different wines in front of him. Turned out it was the exact same wine. D'Arcy did it to p1ss him off.

Art me hole!

jiggajt

fabbydabby wrote: »

But isn't this the age old problem? Hacks and people without talent get swept along successfully with genuine artists? How exactly do you define art?


You can buy hand painted abstract canvasses up in Woodies for like 30/40 quid. I would love to put some on display at the arts festival with prices inflated by a factor of ten and see if any of them are sold, because frankly, I can't tell the difference, and I don't think very many people can.

Yea. I was tempted last year to put a price tag on the fire extinguisher on the walls in one of the galleries to see if they get any inquiries about it!

There is definately a difference between people who go to an exhibition and appreciate real talent and the merlot sipping chin stroking bourgeoisie that you see eyeing up a sheet of paper that someone spat on and priced in the thousands.

ztoical

fabbydabby wrote: »

But isn't this the age old problem? Hacks and people without talent get swept along successfully with genuine artists? How exactly do you define art?

I'd say people looked down their nose at Jackson Pollock in the day. I certainly can't see the artistic merit in his work. Or what about Damian Hirst? Or architect Frank Gehry who The Simpsons parodied as simply getting his ideas by scrunching up a sheet of A4. An architecture lecturer my mate had in college referred to Gehry's work as "Arbitrary". Take from that what you will.

At least pollock applied paint to canvas and hirst, whose work I don't like but I can at least say he, has at least taken found objects and presented them differently. Fine if some people enjoy that type of show but common sense would have put it on at a different time of year, that new larger space the arts office now has could have housed how many local artists work for the arts festival?

fabbydabby wrote: »

I saw a painting called "blue" that was just a blue canvas going for something ridiculous one year at the arts festival. And I thought that if someone is stupid enough to pay a grand or so for that, they actually DESERVE to get ripped off.

You can buy hand painted abstract canvasses up in Woodies for like 30/40 quid. I would love to put some on display at the arts festival with prices inflated by a factor of ten and see if any of them are sold, because frankly, I can't tell the difference, and I don't think very many people can.

The pricing of art is a whole different kettle of fish. There are people out there who study it like some people would study the stock market. They don't buy pieces cus they like them, they buy them as an investment, they will look at the name of the artist rather then the work. They will have studied the artists CV [which is different to a regular job CV listing solo, group and jury selection shows, residencies and grants] and they will have researched them and know if that's a good price or not and if the artists is likely to go up or down in value.

You will always have stupid people both buying and selling at arts festivals. Looking around I saw alot of new artists who were either self taught or recent college grads who'd most likely gone and looked at another show and copied their pricing. A Patrick Scott is not going to sell for the same price as some recent undergrad student from NCAD and anyone stupid enough to pay that price for an unkown artists does deserve to loose their money.

fabbydabby

Checked out weapons too. The pieces are BIG!

The guy I was with pointed out that you'd be like a bit of a nutjob if you had a 5 foot machine gun painting hanging in your living room. I can see them working in pubs and stuff though.

The ones with the people in them I felt were best, as posted above.

catbear

An old trick for art pricing is to mark up a big but average picture and then price everything else cheaper to make people think they're getting a good deal on smaller canvases.

I once made a dinner for an organic food freak and told her all the ingredients were organic; she was all "wow" and "you can really taste the difference". I found it very hard to keep a straight face that night when all the stuff was from the ready to rot section and none of it was organic. I'm a cheap date!

Art, I just don't get it.

fabbydabby

I don't either. I think it's 89% bollocks and 10% talentless bastards pulling the wool over everyone's eyes.

I like the other 1% though!

Here's a thought in the form of a brazen statement:

Photography is art for people who can't draw, just like DJing is musical performance for people without any musical talent. Discuss.

ztoical

catbear wrote: »

An old trick for art pricing is to mark up a big but average picture and then price everything else cheaper to make people think they're getting a good deal on smaller canvases.

And where did you hear someone doing that? If your showing in a gallery you tell them your price and they add their commission price on top, selling art is not like like selling used cars despite what people might think. Like I said before people who pay big bucks for art would know what they are buying and aren't going to 'tricked' by pricing some things cheaper and some more expensive. They'll know what the artist has sold at to this point and will know if the price is a good reflection of their work.

Costing my work I work how long it took me to do and set an hourly rate, I work out my materials cost and a % of my studio costs [rent, light, heat etc] and round up by around 10% - that would be standard for younger artists and as you expand your CV with more eduction, shows, residencies, awards and grants your prices would hopefully go up.

Fratton Fred

In the castle grounds on Sunday there was a street performer, he was carrying a suitcase which gave out sound effects. We first saw him on Saturday running through the town dressed as a convict, carrying a ball and chain with the sound of dogs chasing him. He was very very funny.

Is he a regular in Kilkenny or was he just there for the Art Week?

jiggajt

Fratton Fred wrote: »

Is he a regular in Kilkenny or was he just there for the Art Week?

Afraid he was only visiting. He was part of the street theatre section of the fest:

http://www.kilkennyarts.ie/events09/index.php?view=category&value=8