Welcome to my blog, where I take pleasure in words and pictures, be they my own or those of others. I'm a creative individual, and the crafty side I explore on my 'other blog', Picking Up The Threads, which I hope you'll visit too. I'm sure you understand that I have sole copyright of my original work and any of my contributions, so please ask if you want to use them. A polite request is rarely refused. So, as they used to say on the BBC's 'Listen With Mother' radio programme, many years ago: "Are you sitting comfortably? Then we'll begin."

Sunday 22 April 2012

A Perfunctory Affair




He taught her so well, that conceptual art
And his crazy ideas had captured her heart.
She thought to preserve the love he’d brought her
But their sweet-sour affair was dead in the water.
“The idea’s a machine that makes the art” he said
Which is when the solution popped into her head.
She’d allowed it to marinate, then she was sure
For the depth of her passion this was the cure.
The vitrine* was essential; the whole creation
Would display her feelings as an installation.
The end came quickly with no pain inflicted
The execution perfunctory, as art predicted.
She’d learned so well about conceptual art
And now she knew she’d captured his heart.
© Marilyn Brindley



*A glass display case, such as those used by Damien Hirst.


I will refer to the kind of art in which I am involved as conceptual art. In conceptual art the idea or concept is the most important aspect of the work.  When an artist uses a conceptual form of art, it means that all of the planning and decisions are made beforehand and the execution is a perfunctory affair. The idea becomes a machine that makes the art.” 
From ‘Paragraphs on Conceptual Art’ by Sol LeWitt

Taking part in The Mag 114, courtesy of Tess Kincaid. The image is 'Sanctuary' by Alex Stoddard


25 comments:

  1. really nice rhymes here


    altered states

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  2. Hello Marilyn:
    What a very clever play with words this is. Most definitely, the works of Damien Hirst spring to mind here, works that are well known to us.But, how you transport us with these lines to another level of art criticism. What is Art, we wonder....is it what is there when the heart is captured?

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  3. Haha! Good poem. You should exhibit it in a gallery (without the picture) :)

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  4. Love it. I tried to work Hirst into mine in some way, but I felt a lot a resistance. You have managed it to perfection.

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  5. yikes....i dont know that i would want to remain a piece of art...in death or otherwise...smiles...

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  6. I enjoyed idea of this poem, Marilyn. Brilliant execution. Thank you for sharing. =D

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  7. Amazing post, I couldn't wait to see what this picture had to reveal! I have this crazy and wonderful feeling to join in on one of the Mag links sometime! I've checked it out briefly before, but then without having it in front of me, one tends to forget, so I am following it! You did a marvelous job here, and I caught a few others...what a cool photo to really bring all sorts of ideas to mind! Thanks for the link to the photo and artist, very interesting!

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  8. In Australia we call those people "Starfish " ! Ha ha.

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    Replies
    1. Far too cryptic for me Kutamun, and though it pains me to ask this, could you (or anyone else) explain what you mean?

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  9. Very creative take on the picture prompt... great rhythm and rhyme, too...

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  10. Well written and original. I greatly enjoyed it!

    =)

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  11. Ha! Very clever. Damien Hirst hoist on his own petard as it were. Very funny. K.

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  12. Oh my goodness glory this was great...'love the rhythm and rhyme!

    This Ozark Farm Chick popped over from Miss Gail's At the Farm just to say 'howdy'!

    God bless ya from the frosty hills and hollers of the chilly Missouri Ponderosa!!! :o)

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  13. Love it! I laughed at the punny: "when the solution popped into her head" and the use of marinate. Great fun, great rhyme; what more could you want?

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  14. I've been to conceptual art exhibits where the walls are blank...yours does so much more, because you can!!

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  15. Fantastic! Amazing how we all see the same picture and go many different directions.

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  16. Liked the theme, rhyme and rhythm. You didn't let the necessity to rhyme in anyway impair the image. Hard to do. Bravo. Vb

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  17. This really worked very well... as a story and poem.

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  18. This is awesome, Nell, I really enjoyed it.

    Kathy M.

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  19. "A conceptual artist is just someone that can't draw" - Banksy

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    Replies
    1. A graffiti ‘artist’ is someone WHO has no grasp of grammar!

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  20. Absolutely fabulous fun! :)

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  21. Hey Lil Nell, " dud lover" came to mind. He deserved everything he got. Must have been the title " A Perfunctory Affair", thanks !

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    Replies
    1. Well I’m still no wiser! Anybody any idea at all?

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  22. great write... fun read...

    JJRod'z

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