...and I'm not talking about beer.
I went to see the
Dali-Liquid Desire show at the NGV last night.
It was thoroughly enjoyable and informative. I was never much of a Dali fan, but I am now... or I at least have a new appreciation for his work. Most of his paintings are on the small side, but they're extremely detailed. What I and many others at the show were most surprised at was his jewellry, which was superb. And his photography was very good too.
They say there's a fine line between genius and insanity, and I think that applies to Dali. George Orwell summed it up well when he said "
One ought to be able to hold in one's head simultaneously the two facts that DalĂ is a good draughtsman and a disgusting human being. The one does not invalidate or, in a sense, affect the other." Orwell was suspicious of Dali's love of excess and questionable allegiances to Franco and other mid-20th century European tyrants. To this day, avant garde artists are generally expected be pinkos. I reckon its a shame when politics and art mingle, though it's inevitable.
Art + Politics = Propaganda
.Labels: art, politics