I think a slightly surreal self portrait, admittedly taken accidentally is a reasonable offering for the book of the moment.
I wonder how many of you (here I am imagining my millions of non-existent readers) ever used one of the earlier internet (well, I suppose almost pre-internet service offerings; Compuserve? The thing about Compuserve was that it was a bit of a walled garden with different patches doing different things. I am now talking 1994-2000, positively ancient in internet terms. Anyhow one of my favourite areas covered art. I used to have some wonderful discussions there, mainly about what was and wasn’t art. My stance was that something (let’s say the Tate’s Bricks) couldn’t be art. Oh how naive was I? Of course it is. But the thing is that that was my first real encounter with people who knew art, and where I took are with any degree of seriousness.
It took until 2006 I’d say, until I had an experience with art that really stuck with me. We were on our first cruise, a 5 day taster and it was on board the QE2 no less (I am a bit proud of that fact). Our first port of call was Santander, but our destination was Bilbao, and a visit to the Guggenheim. I have no idea who the artist was for the main exhibition hall. But, the exhibition comprised mostly of pieces made out of huge steel plates, curved and fitted together which you could walk through. One of them inside, was so dark, I don’t think I had ever encountered something so dark. I think this was the first exhibition I really enjoyed. Prior to this, apart from my Compuserve discussions; Art? Boring!!
Whooo Boy, was I wrong. Now I’m still not sure what I do and don’t like, but I now formally acknowledge that i am interested in Art. Why on earth would I have read The History of Art last year if I weren’t? I really enjoyed reading that book. It was fascinating.. But I’m not sure that I am any better of appreciating, let alone understanding Art.
Which brings me to the book of the moment. Now, I have only just finished the introduction and one page of the body, but I am really looking forward to reading “How to look at Art”. By Susie Hodge. Obviously not a lot to say about the book at present, but let’s see how things go.
Bills Posts 