Picture from a book (unfinished) by James Steady (1981 - present), acrylic on paper.
The class was at www.londonartclasses.com At £25 for two hours, it was good value. All materials were provided and the tutor fitted the role very well. I would recommend.
The tutor encouraged us to paint anything we wanted, he explined this was to breakthrough any phycological block or crisis of confidence the members of the class may have had. Sadly, I had forgotten to bring a picture of Mark Lawrenson, and so had to make do with a picture from 'Exposed: Voyeurism, Surveillance, and the Camera' which I found on the studio's shelves. There were loads of pictures of tits, cock and fanny, but I wimped-out and went for fully clothed people in hats - it was under the surveillance section. See what I did there. Turned out to be one of those commercial accompaniments to a gallery show - middle-class porn/ coffee table badge, etc. Very good book, though.
However, there was a section at the end of the first hour when the tutor showed us some YouTube videos as an art orientation thing. This was my least favourite bit: the videos made me want to punch the presenters, all were walking cliches. Despair for yourself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxQZIvepg3c
This sleazy production does everything to laboriously hawk the accessible populism of contemporary art. The presenter does everything possible to encourage my deepest hatred of her botoxed ignorance. Although I admire the art bureaucrat's 'this is for all' attitude, his ability to pimp-out the work he uses to generate revenue is shocking "...we have an astronaut, maybe reentering the earths orbit... or something?" Brian Badonde, anyone? Then again, it was a sales appeal to the non-artsy plebeian. Oh, and nice sartorial montage, everyman: you look like a dry-cleaned tramp whose integrity came out in the wash.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tmu9Isq6f6Q
The next video starred Kate Maxwell - who I presume is, in the very least, the daughter of a relatively successfully property developer from the home counties. Here Kate reminds us that the anti-ethics of elitism are very much an integral component of the contemporary art circus - actually a very important lesson. And that - you know - art is just about a regular middle-class girl having fun with money, yeah? From this video we learn that art has everything to do with expensive New York real-estate and cocktails. And not a lot else... Besides her great legs, well conditioned hair and probable addiction to rich cock.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YMV4EyaPMM
Last but not least, we moved on to the recently deceased/ most important living artist section. Freud is a favourite of mine (a shocking and original position, I know). Even though i saw the video when it first aired on channel four news, I was not prepared for the tour-de-camp in store from the Aryan horse-probe as he berated his quarry. But even though i was distracted by the presenter - who im convinced is very close to voguing whenever he's in shot - the love and admiration Freud's loyal assistant has for his deceased friend shines though. Truly touching, and a great insight. No wonder he doesn't want TV cameras traipsing though evermore.
Well. I didn't expect this to turn into a rant, but as it just come out unopposed, so it must stand. Most importantly, I found that I like painting so I will go back for a second class next week. This choice has everything to do with the setting and of course the tutor, who was able to put his class at ease. Despite the above troll-like histrionics directed at YouTube video (what the fuck have i become?), I had an enjoyable evening.
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