March 03

This week’s readings by Greenberg and Debord on kitsch and spectacle got me thinking a lot on the value of entertainment in art. In many ways I think what these articles were talking about was a certain wariness or distrust of any form of art that is too entertaining. The definition of entertaining being something along the lines of something that is easy to get absorbed in and once absorbed holds attention in such a way that is very pleasurable, causes no distress, and makes the experience of time seem to move faster. By this very definition, entertainment is very popular, if not incredibly addictive. However, according to Greenberg and Debord, this is art, or it cannot reach a very high level of art. Their definitions of art seem to demand more from a viewer than simply their attention. The avant-garde is by its nature, very challenging to its audience. It requires thought and critical interaction on some level that is less pleasurable than simply being told a really exciting story. This is also the value of the avant-garde, that it can edify you, change you in some way, where mere entertainment can only reinforce what you already know because it deals in conventions and themes you are already comfortable with and know well. I suppose I am most interested in the middle area that Greenberg talked about (Stienbeck?) between high and low culture. Of course this is all before Warhol etc. made careers and set the course of art on blurring the line between avant-garde and kitsch but I feel Greenberg had some inclination that this middle area was important. After all the avant-garde is full of risks, one is that it will be misunderstood if it is too difficult and another is that it will be ignored if it is too boring. As an artist I find this especially daunting because I am constantly at odds with my dueling impulses to be avant-garde, to push myself to experiment, to be difficult and my other impulse to be more kitsch, more entertaining, to appeal to the widest audience possible. After all, to be ignored in the hyper competitive art world, where there is so much entertaining, beautiful work everywhere is a big risk.