Art and the naked body

I've always shied away from using naked flesh in my art. I've never been a great one for the classic nude. It's not that I'm a prude; it's just that it's often overdone or used gratuitously. I've also been wary of what might be seen as exploitation or even sexism. When does art become porn and vice versa?

Recently though I've begun to think that there are things that can best be expressed by including the naked body or parts thereof in my art. So why now?

Society is sick. We've time warped back to the Victorian era. We live in dark and dangerous times. They are always dangerous when right wing governments exist; at best they are bullies, at worst they are evil, merciless, murderous, oppressive thugs. There is too much that is false about society. Nudity is a great leveller; naked we are equals. The naked body represents for me a purity. A purity that we seem to have lost. Apologies if this sounds a bit pretentious, but I truly believe it.

I don't normally explain my art but Turning the tables is based on a comment I've heard from women on many occasions, about men who instead of making eye contact when holding a conversation stare at their breasts instead. I am often so ashamed to be a man in this man's world that men continue to fuck up. This picture depicts the breasts staring back. A metaphor for how the world should be; a world where we should all equal.

Below is the censored version of Turning the tables. The uncensored version can be found on this site (kept separate so that I can warn people about the 'adult content').

The Turner Prize

#turnerprize

The only thing you need to know about the Turner Prize is that it's all a sham. It exists to help bolster the fabricated notion that you can measure art, that there is good and bad art. The only reason for this is to fuel the 'art as an investment commodity' merry go round. It's all utter bollocks!

"Anything can be art, but there is very little good art.”

I love the work of Grayson Perry and mostly I agree with what he says on many subjects. I particularly like his analysis and observations on manhood. But I do have to disagree with him on the quote above. A quote attributed to him in this Guardian article. Well actually I only disagree with half of it; the other half is okay in my humble opinion.

It's the second half of the sentence that I can in no way agree with. You can't benchmark art. Art is purely subjective. Using good or bad is just a pointless exercise. When the art elite talk about good or bad they are not talking about weights and measures what they are really talking about is fashion. Fashion amongst the bourgeois art clique. It's all bollocks. For the umpteenth time you can't grade or measure art!

"A grand old painter died today"

Almost eight years before I was born and on this day in 1947 George Thomson passed away. In the 1911 census he was registered as being a painter and decorator but according to my mother he painted murals on the walls of theatres and cinemas in and around Dundee. I have no way of knowing whether or not he actually did paint murals but I like to think he did. I also like to think that's where  my artistic desire to create comes from.

George is buried, in view of the Tay, in the churchyard at Longforgan, Perth and Kinross, Scotland; 5 miles west of Dundee. George was my great-grandfather.

Elitist art fuckery

As an artist I find the approach to art by society's self-styled elite very frustrating. There's a lot of pretentious bollocks talked about art and I refuse to take any part in the charade. Art is just art. Everyone can be an artist. It doesn't require mystical powers. It doesn't require a degree. So please can we cut this utter nonsense out?

Art is only ever in the eye of the beholder. There's no Beaufort or Mohs scale for measuring art. Art is subjective. You can't pitch one work of art against another. Art competitions and art prizes are meaningless. You either like a piece of art or you don't. You don't even need to know what a work of art is about. If you get something from a piece of art then all well and good. If you don't then move on to some different art. You don't need some pretentious art critic or art historian telling you what to think.

I suppose I'm in the fortunate position that I have never sold my soul to the money god. I've never put myself in a position where I needed to earn a living from my art. I produce my art for the sheer love of it, for wanting to create, for wanting to express myself. When it comes to the art I produce I rarely compromise. Artists need to stop pandering to the whims and fancies of the rich who treat it as just another investment, just another collectable. Stop this elitist art fuckery!

“Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish.” - Euripides

The big problem with stupid people is that they are usually too stupid to know that they are stupid. Of course the dilemma and possible irony of me saying this is that I could well be stupid too. Ignorance I suppose is bliss.

"Questioning anything and everything, to me, is punk rock." Henry Rollins

Neanderthal Man

First they came for the poor,

But I was not poor so I did nothing.
I'm just a fat white bloke.
I don't vote.
Then they came for the disabled,
But I was not disabled so I did nothing.
I'm just a fat white bloke.
I vote Tory.
Then they came for the immigrants,
We are all immigrants but I didn't know that.
I'm just a fat white bloke.
I don't vote.
Next they came for the old,
But I'm not old so fuck 'em.
I'm just a fat white bloke.
I vote Tory.
I mouth off in the pub.
I talk out of my arse.
I'm just a fat white bloke.
I don't know how to vote
I vote Tory.
I see life in a binary way.

©Paul Garrard 2017