Beauty is embarassing assignment

Opening to a Wayne White exhibit.

Mr. White: Hello Sam.

Me: Hello Mr. White. I love your set work and art style.

Mr. White: Thank you. What do you think art is? How do you know if it is successful or not? Does it fit in with what I consider art?

Me: I think that art can be anything. I think it can be anything from a painting of a lush forest to a great song. It can be anything from something in a museum to something spray painted onto the side of a building. It can just be material stuff or it can be someone putting on a mask (like you) and gaging people’s reactions. It can be designing sets or videos, as you have done before.  It can be completely your own creation or, like you did with your painting, take existing art and adding something on it like words—like painting “FAILED ABSTRACT PAINTING OF THE SEVENTIES” over a typical picture of the seventies (which made me laugh). Now how do I define if a piece of art is successful or not? Well, while I do think that art that makes you think is amazing, I think that the only thing that makes art successful or not is whether or not it makes people react to it--whether people were touched by the painting deeply, whether they laughed at the joke (or not), or whether they just stood there looking at the painting thinking “What did I just look at?” Some people will probably say “That’s not art, only this is art” but I say it’s left to the interpretation of the viewer. There are no set guidelines for what art is.

Mr. White: You and I agree.  Well thank you for your time.

Me: My pleasure.