So many art posts, I know, but THIS is different.

When did art become so fake? For the longest time I have travelled to the Western Australian Art gallery, and there is so little that can be said about the place any more.

It seems that 'art' has really just become a matter of who you know, and who decides your art is worth acknowledging. To be fair, there is always a certain amount of necessity within the artistic community to have  figures who can certify the greatness of some works; however what I saw today was the perfect example of the shameful effect pretentious ideas have on artistic production.
At the moment there is an exhibition by Patricia Piccinnini, and it is just HORRIBLE. I know that some may say she is trying to make a point, and I understand that entirely, but how many nasty sculptures does it take to make that point? Here's an image of one of them.

"We are, behind every human pretense of clothing etc simply animals surviving"; of course there are multiple readings of any artwork, but the exhibition as a whole was undoubtedly aiming for a message something along those lines (If I am wrong, well, Ms Piccinini hasn't succeeded unfortunately). SIGH. A good message to have if you thought of it yourself; but this thinking has been around for years and has been explored in umpteen artworks prior.

The greatest tragedy of this whole exhibition is that Piccinini has such astounding talent for sculpture, but has wasted it creating so many hideous installments. One or two I could understand but an entire gallery full is just a waste of time and talent. Just as Picasso ended wasting his talent for the sake of a few socialite followers, Piccinini is wasting her talent on overdone statements for the sake of publicity. Surely Ms. Piccinini has something original to say? People will be drawn to her works by the extreme detail in their execution, so gaining an audience for a new social comment would be no problem for her. Statements about current issues, perhaps ones unique to Australia (where she hails from) could be very interesting. There's plenty going on around us each day that provides new creative fuel; so artists, please, please, PLEASE just look at something that comes from your own head!

I may be young, but I know how to handle things...mostly...kind of..

Well, hello to anyone who has sympathy enough to read this, my very first ever blogging attempt! I'm not usually very good at anything to do with computers, but for once my bucket of bolts has done something obliging and allowed me to create this blog.

First thing (because I want to waste some time and because this is the only thing I can think of at the moment that might be minimally interesting) on the agenda: PUBLIC SPEAKING.
While at school a while ago, I discovered that I have the chronic disorder of publicspeakatitis. It affects your speech and causes severe shaking to occur in whatever limbs other people will notice when there are more than three people watching you speak. While everyone in my class swore black and blue they did indeed suffer from the same ailment, not one of them did any more than stumble over one word. I developed a severe stutter (it's a blessing we weren't discussing Aristootle.....Arastoitle...Arstootl...Arousedpoodle....ARISTOTLE or some other terribly difficult to pronounce name) and parkinson's disease for five minutes. It's a good thing I didn't have to speak while holding a glass of water; the roof would have been sadly abused with water droplets.

Anyhoo, I have some very important advice to give to people my age, DON'T say OK if anyone ever dares you to eat a slug. I found out this afternoon that someone had done just that; they are now in a serious condition in hospital. Advice you will no doubt pass on to your children when you have them.
"Son, here's a tip for you....don't eat slugs. If you do, you're grounded."