Why is most public art crap?

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Puerto Calero - Lanzarote

The term public art is especially significant within the art world, amongst curators, commissioning bodies and practitioners of public art, to whom it signifies a particular working practice, often with implications of site specificity.

The need to display art in a public place is usually driven by the ego of a local authority or prominent business or public figure within in a community. Placing grandiose statements within a town or city is seen as a way of increasing the importance of a place. There is a misconception that art elevates and rejuvenates an area – this is incorrect. There is more bad public art than there is good – out of proportion statues of footballers for an example.

The public art I like is the simple three-dimensional representation of company logos – signage is great public art.

Image above – Puerto Calero – Lanzarote

I have no idea what the sculpture placed in the entrance to Puerto Calero marina is all about (I don’t really need to) I love the way it simply sits there and is being obscured by the trees.

This image was taken using a Pentax P30 SLR film camera. The film used was Fujicolor C200, a budget-priced film (expire date April 2014) processed by Jessops in Barnstaple. The negatives were scanned using an Ion Pics 2 SD.

The beauty of using 35mm film cameras and film is not knowing what you have taken a picture of straight away – the final image is a process of design, skill and chance. The chance element is the big buzz … Continue reading ?

Self Portrait of the Artist

A self portrait is a representation of an artist, drawn, painted, photographed, or sculpted by the artist. Although self-portraits have been made by artists since the earliest times, it is not until the Early Renaissance in the mid 15th century that artists can be frequently identified depicting themselves as either the main subject, or as important characters in their work… Continue reading →

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