"I can do that too" when looking at art in museums

[Anonymous]

Inspired by that thread about menu items in restaurants, I've heard this about art on museum and gallery walls.
Is it low class, or unaware or uneducated? Or maybe it's a perfectly normal response to contemporary abstract art.

[Anonymous]

Re: some modern art, it's understandable and likely true.

[Anonymous]

The emperor’s new clothes.

[Anonymous]

Those are the words of a complete philistine and a narcissist. I have a friend I've known for decades I can no longer go to galleries with, because she ALWAYS says this about something on the walls.

[Anonymous]

No it’s a ridiculous thing to say. If you can do it, go do it. It shows you have no taste or understanding of art.

And you can certainly critique art that’s not my point- but that is an especially ridiculous critique.

[Anonymous]

My favorite along these lines is the gamers who are convinced they are ready to be surgeons

[Anonymous]

Or, people watching professional soccer or tennis saying, how did they miss that?!

[Anonymous]

It makes you sound uneducated. Like you don't understand the history and concepts behind the art.

[Anonymous]

There's a textile art exhibit up right now. Technique-wise, I can do a lot of what I saw there, because that's my job (though if you were to ask me to paint you a picture of it, I couldn't, even to save my life.)

The thing that makes it art isn't always the technique. It's the process (pollack), the environment in which the artist created the piece (ai weiwei), the narrative story behind the work (Mark Bradford's "Pickett's Charge" jumps to mind, but all art has a story), the time invested and what the artist missed to devote that time/energy to the work...

People saying "I can do that too" out loud in museums are probably either trying to sound important/cool, or having a tough time relating to the work(s) on display. Neither is a good look.

[Anonymous]

Depends.

One time the “art” was baloney pinned to the walls. I think any of us could pin lunch meat to a wall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Depends.

One time the “art” was baloney pinned to the walls. I think any of us could pin lunch meat to a wall.

Almost anyone with basic coding training could code Facebook. But at the time, even those obsessed with creating a startup didn't think of it.

[Anonymous]

I stick to classical, because I am very sure I cannot replicate such genius.

The paint splotches and the squares of primary colors, on the other hand... let's say I'm just glad I've never paid to enter a gallery that displayed *those*.

Intellectually, I understand what 22:02 wrote and some modern art is truly complex, technically demanding, and breathtaking.

But I wouldn't fault anyone for making such comments for the more basic pieces. Remember, art can be anything that provokes an emotion, and that emotion can be mild scorn!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Depends.

One time the “art” was baloney pinned to the walls. I think any of us could pin lunch meat to a wall.

You'll really like the taped banana, then. And the fact someone walked up to it and ate it. And declared he had just done PERFORMANCE ART.

[Anonymous]

Yeah... not all art is worth putting up and fawning over. People are allowed not to like certain pieces, and express this in a "this is so bad even I could do that" kind of a way. Look past the actual words to the perfectly legitimate sentiment behind.

I know some of you will twist yourselves into pretzels to justify what's hanging in art galleries these days, because you think it makes you sophisticated and able to discern high-order artistic talent...

...but not really. Some things are just crap.

[Anonymous]

You do realize it's self-deprecating?

Also, the uptight, social striver crowd strikes again. People are allowed to voice their unvarnished thoughts. This is not exactly a discriminatory remark.