What is “art”?  I’m sure that most people have their own idea of art, mine is something simple and recognizable, that pleases me and lifts my spirits.  I also enjoy abstracts that soothe me with beautiful shapes and colours.

I guess I have very simple tastes and only want to live with calming “artwork”, something that pleases me and improves my mood.  Not for me are the dark, bold streaks of colour that seem to be an expression of the artist’s anger.  They make me feel anxious and unhappy and I want to walk away from them.

Dark, almost threatening landscapes and seascapes can be beautiful as nature has many dark, stormy moods for an artist to capture.  However, dark stripes and blotches that are meaningless to me, I do not really visualize as art.  Quite often the canvases are streaked and the colours have run together, as though they have been left out in the rain.  Maybe a thing of much meaning and beauty to some but, to me, it’s just depressing.

Several years ago Dave and I were visiting London and went in the Tate “Modern”, this is part of the Tate gallery devoted to modern art.  Some of the stuff in there was absolutely awful.  One exhibit was two televisions stacked on top of one another, the top one upside down.  They were showing a loop of video that was just a naked man.  He was bending, hands on hips, with his legs apart waving his “bits” back and forth.  How can this be conceived as art?  We had a long look and a long laugh, but really, how had this become a work of art?  If Dave tries that sort of exhibition, at home, her gets laughed at and told off.

Another exhibit in there was a large box, rather like a raised flower bed, filled with ping-pong balls.  One small room had a table and chair hanging, upside down, from the ceiling.  Most people were holding onto their guide books, seriously discussing the exhibits, they probably thought we were morons for being less than impressed.

While in London, we visited the National Gallery which is filled with priceless works of art.  Some of them were not to my liking but the beauty of the work was astounding.  How can something like that we compared to some of the “so called” art that is purchased by our provincial and Canadian governments for millions of dollars?  In Vancouver there is an array of rusty iron beams that cost a small fortune.  I believe it is called Gateway to the West.  If it didn’t have a plaque, it could easily be mistaken for a builder’s mistake that is waiting to be taken to the scrapyard.

Years ago, we lived in Port Coquitlam and I was excited to visit the newly opened Coquitlam Centre, the first big shopping mall in the area.  Driving round the car park I noticed a big spool that looked like it had had cable wrapped round it, at one time, and had been left by the electricians.  The next time I drove round that way, it was still there so I slowed the car to have a closer look.  It was actually a piece of art called A Study in Equipoise.  Someone had obviously thought it was OK to spend a fortune of (probably) public money on this, to my eye, rubbish.

I am probably rather simple minded but my home is filled with light, colourful pictures of things I understand.  Several are by local artists, who may never be world renowned, but their labours of love are much appreciated and lift my spirits every day.