What is Art when it's at home? Or anywhere else for that matter.
When it comes down to a solid analysis of what Art actually is, who is the person brave enough to make a definitive statement? One we can all apply (without exception) in order to make sure our personal opinions will not lead us into the temptation of behaviors which can be considered "odd"? And for that matter, what is "odd"? One man's "oddity" can sometimes be another's "rapturous acclimation/illumination"!
Fellow Aussie Robert Hughes made a name for himself being critical and while I sometimes found his comments interesting, I have been frequently flummoxed on hearing his passing judgements regarding other's creative efforts. Case in point, in episode 2 of Hughes' "American Visions", Hughes really confused me when he described the architecture and art of Santa Fe N.M. as "the pious ethno-kitsch of contemporary Santa Fe".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9teEmtNdtjg
It still annoys me all these years after I first heard him say these words! I can only guess he didn't look closely enough at Santa Fe (or spend enough time there) to be able to make an apt assessment. He must have breezed through in a day (or so) without exploring the depths hidden beyond the tours and quick fix vacation takers. Or maybe he was reading from his producer's notes instead of walking the back alleys and laneways where the real Santa Fe is hidden. Who knows! But while I can understand the false impression somebody waltzing through might grab, it is as far from the reality of my experience as is humanly possible for it to be.
I adore Santa Fe and have from the moment I set foot on New Mexican soil! Any excuse and I'll head back there ASAP. You cannot get to know Santa Fe from a half day's visit! She is like fine china loved for a lifetime of three-meal-a-day usage without the bride realizing how much the set cost her generous wedding guest: An unexpected joy and pleasure.
When I first flew into Santa Fe I had virtually no idea what to expect. I was only there because the studio I was going to be recording in had been changed to Santa Fe from the original contract's Texas location. But apart from the massive Tarantula Wasps buzzing around the blossom trees at Santa Fe Airport (and an extremely unexpected case of altitude sickness), from the moment I took the cab into town and caught my first glimpses of the adobe houses (all shapes, sizes, demographics, culture and socio-economic mix), I was hooked!
Growing up in suburban Melbourne (Australia), I was used to all buildings being based on basic box shapes: Hard lines and sharp corners. But Santa Fe architecture flows and whatever it's influence, grows from the land, reflecting the people it insulates. My parents were considered radical in 1950s/60s Victoria because they had clay seagulls flying across the lounge wall instead of the usual ceramic ducks! My father still laughs nervously when they are mentioned even to this day; his own personal radicalism. "I liked them." And fair enough, say I!
Same goes in Santa Fe, where regardless of their age or structure, New Mexicans express themselves using whatever artistic means are at their disposal or takes their fancy/fantasy! Even the back lanes and streets are non-conformist having been built on donkey tracks in existence since the town's beginnings in the 1050s.
In other words, one man's "kitsch" is another man's history or delight. The "kitsch" Hughes was referring to was not copied from anywhere else by Santa Feans because they were the ones who had created the originals! Others copied or borrowed influences from the Santa Feans personal acts of creative expression.
Flying ducks were regarded by my 60s/70s generation as horribly "kitsch", disgustingly common and painfully old-fashioned. Yet in 2013, there are modern day collectors searching auction houses looking for just the right set to adorn their modern renovated white walls! My parents were judged as radical for ignoring the status quo and choosing seagulls instead. Today's collectors would grab the ducks (judged according to the intricacies of their variable identities) while tossing the poor seagulls aside, their uniqueness going unappreciated even in this day and age. So what gives? What makes something Art and something else "kitsch"?
While living in San Francisco's East Bay I frequently drove up from SFO towards the city and on the hillside below the "South San Francisco" sign there is a row of houses which all looked the same. Every drive I would find myself singing a folk song from the 60s we used to sing at school.
http://people.wku.edu/charles.smith/MALVINA/mr094.htm
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky tacky,1
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes all the same.
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one,
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.
And the people in the houses
All went to the university,
Where they were put in boxes
And they came out all the same,
And there's doctors and lawyers,
And business executives,
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.
And they all play on the golf course
And drink their martinis dry,
And they all have pretty children
And the children go to school,
And the children go to summer camp
And then to the university,
Where they are put in boxes
And they come out all the same.
And the boys go into business
And marry and raise a family
In boxes made of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one,
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.
According to the referring website:
"Notes: words and music by Malvina Reynolds; copyright 1962 Schroder Music Company, renewed 1990. Malvina and her husband were on their way from where they lived in Berkeley, through San Francisco and down the peninsula to La Honda where she was to sing at a meeting of the Friends’ Committee on Legislation (not the PTA, as Pete Seeger says in the documentary about Malvina, “Love It Like a Fool”). As she drove through Daly City, she said “Bud, take the wheel. I feel a song coming on.”..."
We can ask ourselves, was the creativity expressed only in Malvina Reynolds feeling inspired or is the issue what I noticed when I last saw the housing row in 2006 as I prepared to fly out of California?
"There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one,
..."
At the time I knew nothing of the creator's instinct or inspiration or even where she was writing about. I had no idea she had been driving through the same area when inspiration hit her and she wrote the first draft. But what did notice was that each house, while sharing massive similarities, were all in some way unique. They may all look the same and they may be made of "ticky-tacky" but every home owner chooses what color to paint their individual house which made the row of houses stand out from all others on that hillside and drew the eye automatically to their presence. And there is probably still a green one and a pink one and a blue one and a yellow one, even to this day! The individual's creative choice and artistic expression, regardless of whether anybody else appreciates it or not, is exactly what makes us aware of the houses at all.
Additionally, San Francisco houses (bland or not), have made a long-term contribution to Western culture. And this in spite of there being many people since the 1960s who are prone to groan when the repetitive tune from this song starts up and grinds on. Many from the 60s may firmly place it's presence in the "kitsch" basket and hope it never becomes revived again! BUT! From that referring website:
"...1. The term "ticky tacky" is now included in the Oxford English Dictionary, and credited to Malvina.
2. Seeger's recording reached as high as number seventy on Billboard and number seventy-two on Cashbox in early 1964.
3. The Womenfolk's version peaked at number eighty-three on Billboard and number ninety-six on Cashbox in May 1964."
So much for "kitsch"!
An old Santa Fe tourism video from 1995 asks visitors and locals to explain how they would define "Santa Fe style" and the responses included "Unique", "Different," and "Romantic". The voice-over artist explains Santa Fe as eclectic, colorful and eccentric. But the best explanation I have ever heard to explain Santa Fe's inexplicable mystique and stature as "one of the most sophisticated art centres of the world" comes from an interviewee almost as "unique" as the place itself. He says that Santa Fe style is "The old, the new, something borrowed, something blue."
I'm with him.
Don't try to explain or understand it, just revel in all it's diverse confusion and wonder. Relax and enjoy!
Ellen 0:)
