Your Monday Muse #3

“Prada Marfa” art installation by artists Elmgreen & Dragset (2005)

*photo credit: Jeanelly Concepcion

Studying Renaissance Art as an undergrad versus Contemporary Art as a grad student required a big shift in my definition of what qualifies as “art”.

Renaissance Art demonstrates the artists’ skill at achieving formal beauty. Each painting or sculpture tells a story through its imagery and symbolism.

In contrast, Contemporary Art demonstrates the artists’ skill at achieving cultural meaning. Each piece reveals a truth about humanity through its creation as art.

To be honest, I didn’t get it at first. How could a pre-manufactured item such as a urinal be deemed as art?! How did painting a soup can count? And some even look like toddler doodles; seriously? I kept thinking it’s all a big joke, a big F-you to the museums, galleries and collectors paying big bucks for their nonsense. And there I was in New York devoting my college education to studying their antics.

But then, we took a class field trip to Marfa, Texas.

If you’ve never been, imagine flying into a major airport, then taking a charter bus down an open road toward nothingness for hours, until the bus finally stops and you get out. A tumbleweed rolls by as you look out toward the dry horizon line of nothingness in all directions, except for one small Prada boutique at the side of the road. It’s so out of place, it’s brilliant! “Prada Marfa” by artists Elmgreen & Dragset was the first contemporary art installation where I felt like I “got it”; like I was finally in on the joke.

As a self-proclaimed country gal at heart (with family still living on a middle-of-nowhere Colorado cattle ranch) now living in high-fashion New York, the irony of “Prada Marfa” spoke to me.

And THAT is the power and purpose of Contemporary Art: to break down the facade of society to reveal a truth about our humanity. Contemporary Art is “good art” when it successfully moves its viewer to discover more of themself.

As an Art Consultant, I enjoy being the matchmaker who gets to offer art that truly moves my clients; so, every time they view it in their space, they are reminded of their truth and know themself that much better.