What is NOT Art

I'm Larry, Kimberly's husband, a physicist and a computer programmer by trade. So, what do I know about art? Very little really, except what I've learned from my extremely talented and naturally gifted wife. However, I think I know what art isn't!

Fundamentally, to me, art is NOT something that your average 10 year old could copy fairly well. I guess that kind of eliminates Picasso and 95% of "modern" art right there. Before you go berserk on me, consider. Most of Picasso's works are two dimensional. That's the way children draw. I've seen a poorly drawn crayon sketch of a head by Picasso, that I wouldn't waste a dime on, sell for tens of thousands of dollars. My daughter drew better than that at five! Also, in an art magazine I read recently there was a "work" consisting of green paint smeared on glass, and the article was about an up and coming artist with a lot of promise!

But are those examples art? Well, how much would you pay to go to a concert where the musicians really didn't know their instruments that well, knew very little about music, and just played random notes in utter discord? Is that music? God forbid someone gets a wild idea from this and tries to do that! Actually, isn't that pretty much what a lot of modern "music" is? Okay, I've alienated another large sector of the community. But, somebody has to speak out or pretty soon our arts are really going to sink to the lowest level, where people really are selling junk by kids and playing discordant music and people will be buying it! I believe that the standards in art reflect the standards in society as a whole, so that as the quality of the art decreases, so does the quality of our society. Which one leads the other is irrelevant, they are both symptoms of degrading morals and values.

John Lennon, a fantastic musical artist, once published a book of gibberish. It went pretty much like this: "akjdA j# oulaleie tasl" on and on for an entire book. Does that make him a writer? What if I decided to become an "artistic" programmer, and just strung together meaningless but "pretty" lines of code? I once worked with a guy who actually programmed like that. Found out he was a house painter before he got hired, somehow, as a programmer. Needless to say, he was soon painting houses again.

On the other hand, I look at someone like David Cassidy, whom I've seen in concert twice in the last year. He literally exudes love for his audience. He makes it abundantly clear that it's those people out there that can appreciate his work and that have those high standards, that make him who he is. I believe he does have high standards, as his constant work with charities exemplifies. He is a true artist.

Maybe there are some things a child could not do, but still are not art. For example, what if I smashed a block of cement with a sledge hammer? People would look at that and think, "that is an artistic representation of an overly-mechanized society that is cracking at the seams." Or, "it represents a lonely person in a world gone mad around them." You get the idea. I just made something up off the top of my head, but there are "art critics" and "experts" who will try to interpret the true underlying meaning. Even if I told them it meant nothing, they would teach classes on it and insist it had deep roots, etc.

Now, when I see the art that Kimberly produces, I am completely awed. Hers is a natural talent. From the time she was a small child she could draw anything she saw. Of course, she's developed her skills, learned all the different media - oils, acrylics, pastels, how to use different brushes, how to paint on different surfaces, and even how to restore paintings perfectly and mend furniture. Unlike say, a portrait artist, who has learned the fine skills of painting portraits, Kimberly can literally paint any subject to perfection. She does not outline first, she just paints. But, unlike most modern artists, she does so with incredible talent and skill.

Kimberly, like David Cassidy, holds the highest standards in art. Those who buy her art are fellow members of the crusade for higher standards and tastes, who too can appreciate true art. She feels the same way about you who buy her work as Mr. Cassidy does about his audiences.

Whatever you may think of my opinions, we encourage you to enjoy the true arts. Support those that really have the talents. Let's bring art back up to the traditional standards held so high by true geniuses like Bouguereau and those that truly care about their art like David Cassidy. It all starts with you!