Art Savvy Senior

Here's some good news for all the lovers of traditional art. The pendulum has started to swing away from modern art to more realistic, recognizable works. For example, a few weeks ago the public art space at the corner of Seventh and Penn in downtown Pittsburgh was changed from the "Demolition Sculpture" to the "planting" of two lovely statues of magnolia trees among several real magnolia trees. What a marvelous improvement.

I called a friend who is part of the professional art world to tell her of my pleasure in seeing the trees, and she told me that this slow movement back to realistic art has now reached into the art schools. Students are encouraged to produce some realistic work and not just squares, circles, triangles, etc., with an occasional odd dot painted various colors which are then placed on a wall, hopefully right side up. And not a moment too soon for me. As a well-seasoned senior citizen, I am looking forward to seeing art that wasn't done by a monkey or an elephant or even by a bona fide artist, who is hiding some real talent because of a lack of courage to create recognizable art.

My husband and I lived in Harrisburg for 35 years and returned to Pittsburgh about nine years ago. During our absence, the "Demolition Sculpture" exhibit was installed. The first time I saw it, I assumed that in the interest of public safety, some bankrupt contractor was required to fence in a small building he had imploded. Years went by, and surprisingly the city had not forced the removal of this pile of building debris. Finally, one of my sisters explained that this was not a pile of junk. It was actually an artistic expression of either death or rebirth. She wasn't sure which. Now I'm wondering whether it was carefully removed by an archeologist or just hauled away in a junk truck.

Our daughter graduated from college during the height of the modern art era, or maybe it was the depth. She invited me to walk around the campus to view some of the outdoor art created by the graduating seniors. Some of the displays were quite attractive but not one was a recognizable anything. I mentioned that we had missed one display at the end of the sidewalk. My daughter laughed and explained that what I had noticed was a pile of roofing material that had not been removed by maintenance. It looked pretty good from a distance.

At a recent Carnegie International Exhibit, there was a video of a large group of rather fat, naked, older people doing exercises. I had heard laughter behind a round screen, which piqued my curiosity and discovered that a slightly out of focus exercise video, had made it into the select group of exhibits chosen for this prestigious show. There was another video of two people walking aimlessly around the streets of Paris, but they were not together. The camera frequently shifted from the man to the woman for no apparent reason and with no explanation as to why we were watching them. They did have good posture. Actually, no one watched for long.

We do have one original modern art painting in our home, which has moved with us to a third location, a much smaller home. We parted with many other works of art but kept this water color of mountains at dawn in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. It captures the promise of another day of intense sun, a sparseness of vegetation, and the steep cliffs blocking the approaching onslaught of light. A photograph could not have adequately radiated the power of the sun as this abstract does.

My gold standard in judging art, either modern or realistic, is that if I could do as well, it's worthless; and if monkeys can do better, it's a travesty. So thanks to the committee who decided to install the beautiful magnolia trees in the Cultural District of Pittsburgh. Long may they bloom for the enjoyment of all who pass by.

Mrs. Schartner is a resident at Sherwood Oaks Retirement Community.