Happy New Year, and all that stuff! Hope our readers (by which I mean all two, possibly) had a wonderful time and didn't try and kill their family or anything like that.
It's been good to be back at Bank. We've had EXCITING COMPETITIONS. Well, we've had ONE COMPETITION THAT WAS NOT VERY EXCITING. But it's a start.
We challenged the talented and lovely customers of Bank to DRAW A MERMAID. We got world-famous art critic Waldemar Januszczak to critique the entries and pick a winner.
The abstract, almost deconstructed character of this first entry brings to mind Picasso's early Cubist work. It is quite clearly a study of the transient nature of human form, and the artist is playing with our senses; he seems to be imploring us to look past the empirical and consider the role of man's symbiotic relationship with the sea and sexuality in an increasingly globalised world. The difficult marriage of the traditional mermaid image and what is essentially a coat-hanger with hair speaks to our obsession with material consumption in the twenty-first century. The ironic text of a famous actor's name reminds us that in this hyper-real, Baudrillardian dystopia, we are all but actors upon an increasingly disturbing, nightmarish stage.
It's a bit shit though: 4/10.
'David', our second artist, has gone for a much more naturalistic image, and done quite a decent job of it too. Clearly the most technically gifted of our painters, David's mermaid has merged the naturalistic forms of the Romantics with the broad brush strokes of Monet and the other Early Impressionists. There is a delight of movement in the piece - the fish jumping in the water at the tail of the mermaid bring to mind a simpler time. This is an elegy to a preterlapsed pastoral memory, perhaps locked in the mind of the artist. A simple beauty for a simpler time. This simplicity is also the piece's downfall, unfortunately. There is a distinct lack of the social critique needed in today's post-structuralist art world. 8/10
There is something quite disconcerting and nightmarish about this image. The merman's blank stare brings to mind the marionettes of the 19th century. This is in some ways a work of self-portraiture. In the manner of Reubens, the artists seems to be using the genre of the portrait to invite us into his world; to turn the gaze of the painter inwards towards self-reflection rather than the traditionally outwards leer of the artist. The simple lines and dead stare speak to a world where man is reduced to the role of automaton; an empty vessel to be filled by the whims of all-powerful corporations.
It's a merMAID competition though, I'm afraid :( Points lost for not following the brief 6/10
This hyper-sexualised work has aspects of the cartoonish, raw sexuality of the Art Nouveau period, and also elements of Andy Warhol's 1960's Pop-Art movement. There are clear Freudian implications to the fact that the face seems like a mere afterthought, whereas the attention and focus of the piece is clearly the magnificent and bulbous breasts. This is a vision of great sexuality, but a vision in which the female is reduced to the role of passive agent, literally almost faceless. The artist has perhaps drawn this image ironically, with the aim of critiquing the objectivisation of women which continues in a society which has been declared 'post-feminist'. But those breasts...
A bit simplistic, but not a bad effort. 7/10
Another clear statement on sexual politics. The artists has again chosen to ignore the brief and re-gender the mermaid. While this merman is clearly an object to be admired for his masculine physical beauty, there is an element of the feminine in the piece. The artist here is inviting us to question the role of the masculine in art and society. The strong man with his 'trident' (read: penis) and the contrasting gentle image of the mermaid with its slender, womanly hips and elegant fin. We are led to question the gendering of our society and its attitudes towards the sexes in a manner reminiscent of some of the Young British Artists of the 1990s.
This is a post-modern masterpiece. It is a work of 're-art': a painting of a statue that causes us to re-examine our conception of what a piece of art is. This is based on a statue in Warsaw, Poland. Painting an existing work draws our attention to the role of the creator in a work of art. Is the intitial creator sacrosant? The work raises existential questions on the very nature of life itself. What gives existence to a work of art, the artist or its own existence? Is there purpose beyond the aesthetic to the creation of artistic work? This work raises more question that it answers and can be seen as a moving portrait to this simulcrum we called 'life'.
A clear winner: 9/10
In other news: We're open later from tomorrow - til 7pm. Come along and tell your friends!
