Scraping the Barrel

I was wandering around the city yesterday and happened across one of the local art galleries. It's been bothering me ever since, and obviously enough to write about.

The gallery is a University student gallery. From that typically I would expect a less focused, more emotionally driven set of works, probably more focused on the dark aspects of life. There could be anything from installations featuring broken mirrors and fake blood to grotesque attempts at sculpture depicting the many deaths of the human heart. Cynical? Hell yes.

It was pretty disappointing. I found the space itself far more interesting than the contents. A converted carpark area inside a building! I could have so much fun with sound installations. The exhibits themselves lacked continuity and thought. They were lacking in even emotional depth.

But there was one that really got into my head. A series of photographs taken at night. The intent was "alternate light". Great idea. Piss-poor execution. There were about thirty photographs, half a dozen of them unmounted and tacked to the wall and the rest mounted. The unmounted were marked for sale at $15 each, and mounted for $70. The shots were shithouse! Seriously, if I took anything like that on my camera, I would delete it in disgust. There were no focal points, no interest in the composition. It was as if the photographer walked outside, pointed the lens somewhere in the direction of a lightsource, clicked once and printed the result. There was no thought in the process, and therefore no evocation of thought afterward. Okay, it did evoke a thought.

Does this person seriously believe they are an artist?

I believe myself to be an amateur. Maybe I need to stop learning and go back to Uni. Forget everything I've learned about using my eyes and brain. Then I'll get some gallery space.