i don't want to make it in the art word, it's full of pricks, i want nothing to do with them

I have some repairing to do in the kitchen, are you on call 24/7?

True, but the same can be said about certain areas of the music world.

If it's any consolation, I met a proper art man the other week (stuff in the Saatchi Gallery and everything) and he was thoroughly nice and not a prick at all.

I'm not sure, but i assume Toilet & Bowels means the art pricks in London, and he's not far off the mark. They're mostly a bunch of dickheads who deserve stoning in the name of art.

Hmm I think my problem with Gilbert and George is the obviousness of it all. Trying to be profound when really saying nothing in particular. I can't help but view G&G as one-dimensional. Their work doesn't grab me in anyway. I just feel so indifferent to it all. It doenst excite me in anyway to delve deeper into any of their work.

So I dont hate them, I just dont care. Besides I can't imagine being able to hate any artist like I hate Mark Rothko.

seriously, you have some of the worst opinions

Every other house in Britain seems to have a Rothko print on the wall. His work is just plain, dull and inoffensive enough to match that Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen wallpaper you buy for £7.99 in Focus Do-It-All without scaring your 60 year old neighbour when she pops in for tea. He has become the artist of the Ikea generation...

I understand the huge influence he has had and I appreciate his importance. I'll even admit to liking some of his later stuff. But I find his work in general hugely overated. Sometimes the art world (especially in this current climate) latches on to some unfathomably dull artists.

I think that's probably a fair assesment of Rothko - I can't say I've seen any houses with Rothko prints in them mind. I adore him, but like so very many artists, you have to see the works in the right context to appreciate it. The Rothko room in the Tate Modern is one of my favourite spots in London.

On that note, I saw the Francis 'Franky' Bacon jobby at the Tate the other weekend. Never seen any of his stuff 'in the flesh'. Very, very disturbing, in a good way.

yeah but judging rothko on an athena poster of one of his paintings is like seeing a photograph of the mountains and then acting like you've just been skiing.

I agree to an extent. My favourite artist, an abstract expressionist called Cesar Manrique is probebly under-appreciated because the most important element of his paintings is usually texture. Its doesnt transtate well to print.

I guess what I dislike about Rothko is his use of colour.

i don't know about any rothko prints but they seem to have been popular in england-- one is "featured" in russel hoban's "the medusa frequency" where it is said to be in the office of comic book publisher sol mezzerot. that's a late-80's novel though-- perhaps it was a passing fad?

HOWEVER-- judging rothko by house prints for the living room is completely wrong. i've been in the presence of some of his paintings and i don't think they'd fit into a regular-size house, they are HUGE, and the impact they have on you has a lot to do with that physical presence.

what you're saying is like only knowing lions from a postcard and saying "oh, lions don't scare me". sure they dont...

In defence of Washing Machine, Rothko's work, which is great, doesn't translate too well on a small print. Bacon's work, on the other hand, has rarely failed to move me even on a magazine's photograph.

I don't completely disagree but does making something bigger make it any better. Like I said its his use of colour. I just don't 'get' it.

I move we continue to persecute Washing Machine. All in favour...

do you really want an answer to that, or are you just pretending?

*cries*

Look, i think that what he's trying to say is that his work doesn't say much to him, what's the problem with that?

Do you want a smiley? Here's one for you: :D .

here's one for you:

aroused now?

:p

if you ever make it out of the provinces and up to the big smoke you should go and have a look at the rothko room at the tate modern and see what you think of his work then, you really have to see his work first hand to get any idea of what he was all about.