Okay, I'm struggling with this one. I have for a while. I'm not raising this to insult anyone and hopefully I will become enlightened or at least offered a perspective that could shift my paradigm as it relates to art.
It all started a couple years ago with the creation of the Sideshow. The original poster caught my attention. I was intrigued by it. It was happening in a vacant space that needed some attention drawn to it. I welcomed it. I attended it. But I didn't get it. Then another one came around. I was intigued by it. A different space this time. I welcome it. I attended it. It's alternative and grassroots and I get that. But I definitely DIDN'T get it.
Personal expression? Yes. I get it. Something that I'd pay for? Probably not. Art? I think so. But I don't know. Isn't good art something that you pay for? Something that withstands time and place? What's experimental? What's the different between amateur and professional?
Along comes the Creative Incubator and the Dayton Dirt Collective. I get it. These are efforts to support grassroots artists, provide spaces to explore creativity without the confines of institutional expectations or pre-conceived ideas. Plus they provide spaces to artists who may not necessarily find a place in mainstream galleries, studios, and performance venues.
Enter Ladyfest. I thought I got it. It's a great concept, international even. Women doing great things. Ladyfest Dayton coincided with Dayton's Urban Nights. This was a neat initiative to support. I attended on Friday night but I DIDN'T get it. I got the music, I got most of the photography. I understood the workshops even though I didn't attend them. I got the conversion of an empty space into a colorful venue. But I wasn't sure if the paint was art or just part of the decor. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to walk across certain floors or just look at them. I wasn't sure about the poetry or ripped magazine pages and mutilated photographs mounted in cheap broken picture frames (for example). Maybe I was on sensory overload but I think I've seen better work by 5th graders. Was it personal expression? Was it art? Is there a difference? What is the value for the consumer versus the creator? Was it meant to be anti-establishment?
If you're as lost as me, check out:
Please don't tell me how ignorant I am. Help me to see this differently. I've tried to learn different perspectives but I just don't get it. And I don't think I'm alone.