BIT OF A LOTTERY THIS SHOWDOWN LARK…
… But then again ART and RECOGNITION has always been a bit of a lottery!
The recent introduction of ‘SHOWDOWN’, a competition currently underway for the ‘trillions’ of artist’s like myself who have work on Saatchi’s online gallery, exemplifies this effortlessly.
As someone who has enjoyed intermittent success in competitions in the past I can have few gripes with the idea of competition in art, but, after witnessing the whole dynamics of the thing online yesterday, what surprised most was just how fleeting and belligerent the whole online process might develop into.
Judging art is perhaps dubious at best anyway, although we’ve always had it and it looks unlikely that it will ever disappear from our means of viewing work, but going hammer and tongs at it like gangs of looters fighting over anything and nothing, (which appears to be the case here), then here it might simply turn out to be wrong.
The thousands of entries flash by on a conveyer belt like ducks rolling by at the shooting gallery of a carnival, allowing the viewer the opportunity only to shoot down willy-nillie, with the click of the mouse, whatever might grab their attention briefly whether they are truly moved by it or not – Only then are they able to cast their vote.
All good fun perhaps, but I failed to cast any votes myself yesterday and abstained from entering this time round. However, it appears the competition will be ongoing and may well point the way to a future clad in works of art which, although taking real thought and time to produce, most probably will only ever be seen flickering by for a split second online.
Next time for me then... Qué será será será será...
The recent introduction of ‘SHOWDOWN’, a competition currently underway for the ‘trillions’ of artist’s like myself who have work on Saatchi’s online gallery, exemplifies this effortlessly.
As someone who has enjoyed intermittent success in competitions in the past I can have few gripes with the idea of competition in art, but, after witnessing the whole dynamics of the thing online yesterday, what surprised most was just how fleeting and belligerent the whole online process might develop into.
Judging art is perhaps dubious at best anyway, although we’ve always had it and it looks unlikely that it will ever disappear from our means of viewing work, but going hammer and tongs at it like gangs of looters fighting over anything and nothing, (which appears to be the case here), then here it might simply turn out to be wrong.
The thousands of entries flash by on a conveyer belt like ducks rolling by at the shooting gallery of a carnival, allowing the viewer the opportunity only to shoot down willy-nillie, with the click of the mouse, whatever might grab their attention briefly whether they are truly moved by it or not – Only then are they able to cast their vote.
All good fun perhaps, but I failed to cast any votes myself yesterday and abstained from entering this time round. However, it appears the competition will be ongoing and may well point the way to a future clad in works of art which, although taking real thought and time to produce, most probably will only ever be seen flickering by for a split second online.
Next time for me then... Qué será será será será...
posted by The Slide at 8:30 am
1 Comments:
As previously posted on Yours Gallery Forum: If the purpose of Showdown is to gain exposure to more artists, it is essential the admin think of ways to improve this. At the moment any work of art is lost in the many thousands of entries and only two works seem to be spot lighted at the end. I agree that some sort of on-going league table or top 100, whatever, can only beneifit the cause. I also think there must be other ways of exposing the better works. Maybe even a spotlight on which works are attracting the most attention, regardless of rating?
This will essentially show case at least some of the honest entries, then the true winners will be those that gain the attentions of 'the art world' via a much improved showdown system.
8:39 am
Post a Comment
<< Home