I came across these videos by serendipitous accident and felt compelled to share.
John Baldessari is basically responsible for re-inventing conceptualism in postmordern art, but a quick informal survey confirmed to me that his name isn’t exactly household among … well, anyone not in the art community. To raise awareness of Baldessari’s simple notion that “art should be fun”, this film features none other than one of my favourite musicians of all time, Mr. Tom Waits.
Both John Baldessari and Tom Waits are funnier than me.
I then stumbled gracefully onto these clips of Jason Schwartzman reluctantly submitting to a conversation about the philosophy of art appreciation with the giant projected disembodied head of John Baldessari. This is a film for anyone who doesn’t like museums or is intimidated by the experience of viewing art in a formal setting. The message is so refreshingly unpretentious – an easy pill to swallow when prescribed by an octogenarian artist with a dry sense of humour.
Now I just need to get my girlfriend to watch these videos so when we go to the National Gallery in Ottawa and see voice of fire she doesn’t yell obscenities at the stripes or recoil in self-conscious awkwardness. I want her, as a high functioning human being, to be able to walk into a museum and confidently say, “I love that giant kinetic sculpture made of recycled newsprint” or “this darkened room with the backwards looping video sucks!” or “I don’t get it.” or “I get it”. These films should be bundled and called “Ten Minutes to Art Appreciation” or “How to Go to a Museum and Laugh at Everything”.
I’m going to go to a museum tomorrow and laugh at everything…while simultaneously appreciating everything … or not.