Friday, May 19, 2006
piet mondrian, straight line extraordinaire
An art critic I ain't, so I'll just start by saying that. But given recent events, I felt I had to chime in on, you guessed it, Piet Mondrian.
Here's a guy who painted for 36 years, from 1908-1944. And yet, as far as I can tell, in all that time, the only thing he ever painted were straight, black lines with red, yellow, and blue rectangles. That's it. But this is not my only criticism of Mondrian's work. Read on, fool!
Mondrian did not give his paintings creative titles either. For example, one of his more clever titles was "Composition No. 10." If a painting of a series of black lines and primary-colored rectangles were called something like "Soulless Cat Playing Snooker in Madrid," it might trick me into thinking it probably had some deeper meaning that I am just too shallow to understand. Why not just hang up a blank canvas and call it "Composition in White"?
My next complaint is that Mondrian painted during some of the most tumultuous times in the history of the world, yet he apparently had nothing worthwhile to say about any of it. Surely he had some comment about World Wars One and Two, The Great Depression, or the birth of Bill Cosby. Heck, isn't this the stuff that "art" is all about? Nope, it's about lines and rectangles.
Next, consider that some of these paintings took as many as seven years to complete. I will concede that these were painted in a time when masking tape was not widely available; therefore, straight lines were a little more difficult to paint. But beyond that I don't understand how these things could have taken so long. One thing's for sure, I won't be so quick to complain about waiting five years for that new Nine Inch Nails CD.
I guess some of the paintings are kind of cool looking, in the same way that some building in Dallas called The Mondrian is kind of cool looking. But I doubt I'd spend a lot of money to buy one of his paintings, just like I wouldn't spend a lot of money to buy a condo in The Mondrian. Especially when I could make my own "Piet Mondrian" painting with $25 worth of supplies purchased at The Home Depot. I could hang it on the wall in my condo, which I also built with $25 worth of supplies purchased at The Home Depot.
The name of my art is "Soulless Cat Playing Snooker in Madrid." ¶ monger187 wrote this on 5/19/2006
Here's a guy who painted for 36 years, from 1908-1944. And yet, as far as I can tell, in all that time, the only thing he ever painted were straight, black lines with red, yellow, and blue rectangles. That's it. But this is not my only criticism of Mondrian's work. Read on, fool!
Mondrian did not give his paintings creative titles either. For example, one of his more clever titles was "Composition No. 10." If a painting of a series of black lines and primary-colored rectangles were called something like "Soulless Cat Playing Snooker in Madrid," it might trick me into thinking it probably had some deeper meaning that I am just too shallow to understand. Why not just hang up a blank canvas and call it "Composition in White"?
My next complaint is that Mondrian painted during some of the most tumultuous times in the history of the world, yet he apparently had nothing worthwhile to say about any of it. Surely he had some comment about World Wars One and Two, The Great Depression, or the birth of Bill Cosby. Heck, isn't this the stuff that "art" is all about? Nope, it's about lines and rectangles.
Next, consider that some of these paintings took as many as seven years to complete. I will concede that these were painted in a time when masking tape was not widely available; therefore, straight lines were a little more difficult to paint. But beyond that I don't understand how these things could have taken so long. One thing's for sure, I won't be so quick to complain about waiting five years for that new Nine Inch Nails CD.
I guess some of the paintings are kind of cool looking, in the same way that some building in Dallas called The Mondrian is kind of cool looking. But I doubt I'd spend a lot of money to buy one of his paintings, just like I wouldn't spend a lot of money to buy a condo in The Mondrian. Especially when I could make my own "Piet Mondrian" painting with $25 worth of supplies purchased at The Home Depot. I could hang it on the wall in my condo, which I also built with $25 worth of supplies purchased at The Home Depot.
The name of my art is "Soulless Cat Playing Snooker in Madrid." ¶ monger187 wrote this on 5/19/2006
