Thursday, September 8, 2011

Get it? Got it, good.

I recently started, and stopped, maybe just paused, working at a small contemporary art gallery in my neighborhood. I was brought in to help more with the graphic design part of the business (and to help me get back into the business of graphic design) than the gallery side but they are physically located in the same space. So I've had contemporary art on my mind lately when I stumbled upon Shea Hembrey's TedTalk, "How I became 100 Artists."


Just as entertaining and engaging as this TedTalk is to me, is the debate about contemporary art that follows in the comments, so be sure to check this out too if you're interested in further reflecting on contemporary art. Is Shea making a statement about contemporary art? Is what he does brilliant? Ridiculous? Does he even 'get it'? Is anyone supposed to 'get' contemporary art?
For me, this was a humorous, clever and inspiring act. How multifaceted are individuals? How many personalities exist in one person? How many could I come up with (or even better/scarier, how many am I)? It was fun to think about all the identities one could fabricate and where they would even come from.
Also, on the topic of contemporary art, are there or should there be any criteria? What do you think?