Jack Vitriano is emerging as one of contemporary Scotland's most eminent artists, but is it all just ultimately Athena fodder ?
― Barrington Wall, Wednesday, 17 January 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
Funny you should mention this--it's an interesting question, and one
I've been thinking about doing some research on.
Obviously, from a personal point of view, I think the guy's paintings
are wank. Not that the execution is duff, but they're nostalgic pining
for an era that never existed; some crazed mish-mash of ?30s-50s but
with butlers and various dubious class implications. So in that sense
certainly poster material.
But, there is something peculiar about the very public slaggings that
the guy has received. This I suspect is due to the Scottish literati's
permanent battle to prevent their perceived culture becoming what they
would think of as kitsch: an iconic fight against tartan, shortbread,
Robert Burns, the kailyard and the Sunday Post.
So the answer to your question may be "yes" in that Vitriano is
undoubtedly popular, and potentially an eminent artist. But that on
the other hand Bigbouth Billy bogging Bass is popular--and art as we
now perceive is almost always the antithesis of popular. (Hence it's
actually news when people start going to a gallery again.) In which
case I think that Vitriano is probably not an artist--but that I'm not
sure that an artist is something anyone should want to be anyway, in
this day and age.
― alex thomson, Thursday, 18 January 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
nine months pass...
Beauty as they say is in the eye of the beholder, and therefore art
being a mainly visual experiance is subject to the viewers own
perception and decision on wether it is art or merely trash. Jack
vitrianos work appeals to me and so in my opinion is art executed to
a high degree.
Surely any piece of work that is pleasing to you must be art and not
crap.
Simplistic maybe, but there you go.
― Steven Paul, Tuesday, 6 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
one month passes...
Jack Vitriano high romance or Athena fodder?
I don't know about Jack Vitriano I have never seen any of his work,
however I very drawn to the work of Jack Vettriano. Athena fodder, is
that an insult or a compliment?
― Jim Wilson, Tuesday, 1 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
five months pass...
His simple, easy to look at, paintings display elements of realisim
and humour without an over complicated style. Jack Vettriano has
put the fun back into contemporary art.
― John Robb, Monday, 10 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link