about
For me, nothing has been more impenetrable and confusing than contemporary art. Even with a keen interest in design, art and architecture along with a decent academic background on these subjects, I still find contemporary art to be a knotty problem. Obstacles appear to lie somewhere between me and the work of art.
Curators, critics, writers, and sometimes even the artists themselves are generally poor communicators on the topic. I think art is important enough that anyone – any old monkey - should be able to grasp the point of an art piece. At least to provoke discussion. What’s more, any intermediary between us and art has the responsibility to clarify why an artist does what he does. Even if it’s a brief opening to understanding
Creative expression has worked for thousands of years, but seems to have run into itself somewhere around the 1960s. I don’t mean to dumb down the conversation; in fact, quite the contrary. Meaning and purpose doesn’t have to make itself known straight away, but everyday people, smart people like you and me, should be able to catch on. Through my own self-discovery, I hope to reveal those people and events in the industry that are lucid, coherent, and impassioned while having a go at those who choose to be only self-indulgent. Contemporary Monkey is to the art world, what “Top Gear” is to non-petrol-heads; what “Ace of Cakes” is for people who never bake. Along the way, our understanding of contemporary art will be uncluttered by that which doesn’t really matter, and we’ll have fun along the way. It’s time for a contemporary solution for a contemporary monkey.