15-Minute Painters and the Decline of Western Civilization
Gordon Fitch
The fifteen-minute painters of cable television -- why have
these not been recognized as the vanguard of Postmodernism?
I'm talking about those folks who we see on the lifestyle
channels, who, with a few brushes (often including the 3-inch
hardware-store variety), a couple of palette knives, and some
ordinary oil paint, produce a perfectly acceptable landscape
or flower painting in a matter of minutes. None of these
shows run over half an hour.
The art resembles sumi-e in that it consists of a bag of
tricks, or, to be more respectful, a set of established
techniques which produce known effects. These effects can
be modified to cause the painting to harmonize with its
particular environment, i.e. go with the couch, something
your fancy French painter can't do. The effects are
assembled in a highly formal manner, as with rock'n'roll,
van painting, graffiti, pornographic movies, and public
discourse.
"Expression" is of little merit in this art; the subject
matter is already thoroughly known and idealized. This,
again, aligns this form of painting with the culture of
East Asia, where the images exist already and the painter
merely approaches them in a way which has already been
established and tested.
Early postmodernists like Warhol showed that anybody with
access to a Xerox machine or a can of Campbell's soup
could produce high art, but the 15-minute painters show
us that anyone can not only produce art, but make it look
like art -- art that is _art_, if you know what I mean.
Vases full of flowers and mountain ranges in the sunset.
These painters served a long apprenticeship in the flea
markets, parking lots, and suburban malls of yesteryear.
When cable arrived, with something for everyone, they
were ready with art for everyone. Yet they were not rash.
Simple, sober things: mere flowers and mountains were
their first offerings. But it will not always be so.
Even now, standard methods are being developed to paint
tall ships, wistful bug-eyed children, and kittens. And
not by your scraggly bohemian artists in a garret either,
no, indeed. The workshops are the ample and decent
parlors of the matrons of Des Moines, Lakeland, and
Redding. They smile as they work at the task of
simultaneously obsoleting and memorializing Western
Civ. Who needs Picasso any more?
--
Gordon Fitch * ...!mydog.panix.com!gcf
Bx 1238 Bowling Green Station / NYC 10274
How do you know, but every bird that cuts the airy way
Is an immense world of delight, clos'd by your senses five?