News Art Blog

Does great art last because it is great or is it great because it lasts? Do works find a place in the canon by familiarity, like a ubiquitous tune you can’t shake, or do they play on through sheer merit? A recent study in the British Journal of Aesthetics by Meskin et al titled “Mere Exposure to Bad Art” examines the effect of “mere exposure” on how people perceive art. After showing students slides of “good” art (landscapes by 19^th century British painter John Everett Millais) and “bad” art (works by the trademarked “Painter of Light” himself, Thomas Kinkade) at differing frequencies, the researchers suggest that looking at bad art more often makes us hate it even more (or so they hope). But is it still possible for us to learn to love bad art? Please come over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of "Do We Learn to Love Bad Art?"

With strikes in American nerve centers such as New York City, Los Angeles, Houston, and even Las Vegas, one artist this summer is waging a one-man World War Zof retrospective blockbusters. Get ready for “World War T,” led by James Turrell, an artist working in the elusive media of light and space, but who is almost unavoidable this summer by mainstream art audiences after nearly half a century of work. If you don’t know Turrell, you’ll know him by the end of 2013. This multi-venue spotlight on Turrell might finally tune in the spectators Turrell’s so long wanted to see the light. Please come over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of "Who Is James Turrelland Why Is His Art Suddenly Everywhere?"




 

The self-titled and legally trademarked “Painter of Light” has been extinguished. When the news spread on Saturday that painter Thomas Kinkade had suddenly passed away at the age of 54 of natural causes, it sent a tremor through not necessarily the art world, but more like the art critic world. Obituaries remained for the most part politely silent on Kinkade’s quality as a painter and his questionable business dealings, going by the “speak no ill of the dead” policy rather than dancing on his yet to be dug grave. I’m not much of a dancer and see no point in rehashing past sins, so, instead, I’ll think about Kinkade’s posthumous future. What kind of artistic afterlife will Thomas Kinkade have? Please come over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of "What Kind of Artistic Afterlife Will Thomas Kinkade Have?"

[Image: Caspar David Friedrich. The Cross in the Mountains (detail), 1807.]