Deconstructing The News (1)
NEWS FROM THE CELTIC LEAGUE
Manx Radio?s web pages carry an ?arts story? today that makes a nice change!
It tells how an ?Island artist? is now apparently considered one of the greatest worldwide – so that?s some coup for our little rock in the midst of the Irish sea.
The body that has bestowed the award (on Svetlana Cameron) is, Manx Radio tells us, ?the internationally renowned Art Renewal Centre?. Here?s the link to the MR story:
So what or who is the Art Renewal Centre? Well apparently it hasn?t been around long having been set up in 2000 by artists and a businessman (Fred Ross) in the United States.
It has a comprehensive web site but being one of the ?proles? I prefer to rely on Wikipedia which says of ARC:
?The Art Renewal Center (ARC) is an organization led by New Jersey businessman, and art collector Fred Ross that is dedicated to the promotion of what it terms classical realism in art, as opposed to the Modernist and Postmodernist developments that may be seen as early as the 1890s. ARC is a non profit educational foundation dedicated to the renewal of classical training and the re-appreciation of traditional art.?
The Art Critic Brian Sherwin is a bit more cutting about ARC in his review (link below to full article on his blog) he says:
?Conveniently, the artwork they support as art happens to be the art they create– paintings involving classical realism– anything else is viewed as mere cultural sludge. ARC supporters have went as far as to start a campaign calling for the removal of Modern art and contemporary art in general from art museums in the United States. I?ve have also read articles stating that ARC desires art funding to be pulled from any venue that exhibits art that falls outside their guidelines. Needless to say– I have a big problem with that.
According to the fundamentalist academic traditionalists involved with the Art Renewal Center one is not an artist unless he or she creates art with the discipline of the academic tradition. Everyone else is some form of ?parasite? that has plagued ‘their’ art for several decades and should be stamped out. The member tend to be vocal concerning their viewpoints. For example, one controversial feature on the site is the ‘ARC Philosophy’, a scathing manifesto of artistic hate written by Fred Ross, Chairman of the Art Renewal Center. The text reads like the paranoid ranting of a madman. Though I may just be brainwashed as Fred Ross would suggest.?
I had a quick look at the ARC web pages and it?s ok if you like Albrecht Durer or Monet but the only Picasso I could find was a picture of his mother. No Guernica then. Perhaps I missed it!
Photo: Piccasso?s Guernica
(?Deconstructing the News? is an occasional series of posts I will run on items appearing on our radio and in the newspapers)
BERNARD MOFFATT
Issued by: The Celtic News
13/02/16
THE CELTIC LEAGUE INFORMATION SERVICE.
The Celtic League established in 1961 has branches in the six Celtic Countries. It promotes cooperation between the countries and campaigns on a range of political, cultural and environmental matters. It highlights human rights abuse, military activity and socio-economic issues
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