The Tate

[number8]

Laughed my backside off when I heard on the news this morning that a cleaner binned a piece of "art" believing it was rubbish (I understand the piece of "art" was a load of old paper in a see through bin liner). Does this further demonstrate that modern art is just simply the emperors new clothes? IMHO the cleaner concerned was the shrewdest art critic ever to enter the Tate

[andy hughes]

I'm happy to admit that I don't understand most modern art, and that's why I stay out of art galleries! I do however believe that people are capable of seeing art in something that looks like a pile of junk to me, but I will never understand it.

[jenstar]

Oh, is this tedious old urban legend doing the rounds again? Yawn...

[thewillow]

I know, jenstar. It is very tiresome every time it raises its head.

[GuavaHalf]

Actually not an urband legend. It is in the Times this morning and it is not the first time that something like this has happened. scubaboy - agree entirely about the emperors new clothes.

[number8]

jenstar, thewillow - ner ner ner ner ner ner

[ludwig]

I've seen a picture of the piece in question and it is a see through bin bag full of paper and cardboard. What always gets me about defenders of modern art is that they maintain it's all about perception, and if a binbag or a bed is perceived as a valid artwork then it is a valid artwork. They then shoot themselves in the foot by inferring anyone who doesn't see it that way is an ignorant philistine, when actually the logical conclusion to their argument is that the opinion that it's a load of old carp is every bit as valid as the opinion that it's good art. Personally, some of it I like and some I don't.

[ludwig]

By the way, I couldn't help but chuckle when that warehouse went up in smoke with all the valuable 'artworks' inside. What does the insurance claim look like I wonder 'we lost one tent, a pickled shark and 3 binbags - value 20 million quid'. Hilarious.

[DOB]

I agree scubaboy.

[WoWo]

I think its great myself. Its up to you to make judgements about the work, some of it is clearly rubbish but other works stunning. I don't like jazz, just don't get it, but I don't dismiss it out of hand. Jake and Dinos Chapmans from hell and the work based on Goyes terrors of war is truely stunning.

"old crap is every bit as valid as the opinion that it's good art"

Thing is your not looking at its artisitc value, saying its rubbish is something different to saying its bad art.

[jenstar]

Hard to believe that museum in Oslo is worried about "The Scream" going missing. It's just some paint and canvas. It's not even very realistic. I could do them a nice picture of someone screaming for a tenner.

[thewillow]

Sounds like a publicity stunt to me.

[ludwig]

Let's look at the facts. An artist made an exhibit out of a plastic bag full of rubbish. The cleaner came along and in all innocence threw it in a skip. Whichever way you look at it, and whatever you think of modern art, that is very funny. What's more, I bet the artist in question is not moaning about how their art could be so cruelly misunderstood and abused. I bet he/she is laughing his/her @rse off as well. After all, if they intended to make an ironic point about the nature of art and the concept of value etc, then what better result. People are right now debating those very things on the answerbank.

[bernardo]

This reminds me of a storyline on a fictional TV police drama series a few years ago.

An artist made a statue out of chocolate, and had it exhibited in a gallery. A man came into the gallery and bit off the elbow. He was arrested and charged with criminal damage. His defence was that he was merely enagaing in an act of "art criticism". The twist was that the vandal was a friend of the artist, and they had engineered the whole stunt in order to get more publicity.

In the case of the Tate artwork, it is perfectly possible that the artist was thinking of the possibility that it might be mistaken for rubbish, and was prepared for the possibility of what happened. In cases such as this, the "art criticism" (or throwing away) is to be expected, and becomes an integral part of the artwork itself.

[MikeMikeMike]

Stunt. When was the last time you saw a bin liner full of rubbish prominently displayed in the middle of an art gallery?