Choice

I attended a talk this evening given by the music Journalist Jimmy Martin on the present exhibition ‘My Mistake’ by Oscar Tuazon at the ICA. The exhibit consists of a large wooden structure, which to me looks like a rather unexciting climbing frame that you might get a fuck load of splinters from if you tried to climb. Jimmy’s talk was interesting and his ideas were well thought out. Although he was an engaging speaker, his delivery was a little bit shy and suggested that he wasn’t used to public speaking. The topic was the influence Black metal had had on the artist’s work. Jimmy played exerts of music including Slayer, Venom and Meyhem to demonstrate various idea and, quoted from an email interview with the artist and his main focus was on the fun in exploration of music and art.

Having been brought up in the tradition of old-school English art, I find it fairly difficult to understand why any artist would be motivated to create a work such as ‘My Mistake.’ I look at it and I go ‘well I could do that, so what makes it special?’ That idea that art requires skill and talent and result in spiritual enlightenment is very ingrained in me.

Jimmy’s talk made me think about the idea of choice as an artist. Yes, I expect I could design and build something like that, but I choose not to. Oscar Tuazon chooses to make this thing and to present it to the world as art. Why is it art to Oscar and a climbing frame to me? Why does Oscar choose to create pieces that are so easy to dismiss?

I then visited The National Portrait Gallery to find a disco going on in the lobby and they were selling beers for £4 a bottle. My initial and only thought was, ‘isn’t there enough bars and clubs in London and why does only have to take place in the gallery?’

There’s a strange culture going on in London at the moment, it seems that every place where you should be able to find a little peace and quite to contemplate, now has a DJ. This is fine as long as they are playing your choice of music, which invariably they are not. I’m a definite a ‘No Music’ over ‘Bad Music’ girl. It’s a real vibe killer for me.

Maybe I’m just getting old.