Everybody Knows –

Antony Gormley –The 007 of Public Art – Stirred but not shaken

Antony Gormley is an exceptional sculptor who I greatly admire. When reading the responses to comments made by him on public art a few weeks ago the lyrics and music of Leonard Cohen’s Everybody knows came to mind.

Antony Gormley knows what should be flushed down the toilet and what should float up to the surface; we to know what’s good, we know what’s bad and we know what’s crap. Nobody has to tell us this, because we know.

Everybody knows.

That’s the problem. Everybody knows or believes that they know what’s good and what’s not in the world of public Art. Art committees know, curators know, art expert know, café patrons know, the general public know. God knows.

We all know.

Because everybody knows and few agree, Public art will always have one foot in the WC and the other on a wing and a prayer. Public art will always attract controversy because everybody knows.

Now in my opinion that’s just fine. Lets just embrace it all and let time take care of the rest. History has a tendency of straining crap out and discarding it. It just takes time.

Time knows.

Whilst trolling through these responses I saw a tribute to Norbert Lynton who died recently. Probably most of you would not have heard of him and although I did not know him personally I was very sorry to hear of his passing.

Norbert Lynton was an art historian and art critic whose writing I found to be very incisive. He was a truly exceptional social historian who was not only a highly perceptive commentator on art but also had a strong humanist sensibility and common sense.

In his The Story of Modern Art (Phaidon Press1980)
He concludes by stating:

“We need all art as we need all nature; there is a balance in both. We need easy, ordinary contact with art. With ordinary art; we must stop talking as though only masterpieces mattered. We must altogether stop speaking of art in terms of war.

Individual artists may improve their work with experience and keener understanding, but art as such does not progress and least of all does it triumph over other art.”

Norbert Lynton knows.