Page 72 - David Bermant Foundation

Well, something strange has happened “on the way to the market place”: the American public actually enjoys this form of art. It amuses; it amazes; in Ivan Karp’s words “it engages the interest of the average person,” thus widening the audience for the visual arts. The non-traditional materials it uses widenthe scope of the subject matter of the visual arts— incorporating the very “stuff” of everyday living.However, most of the art placed in public placesin America up until now has been architecturally oriented (i.e., abstract art that relates to the architecture). If not actually chosen by the architect, its choice certainly has been influenced by him. In the case of the General Services Administration, he is the initiating element and is a member of every panel. Certainly there is nothing wrong with architectural art, per se, except for certain factors—too often it’s what Calvin Tomkins has termed “plop art” (“the artist has simply taken one of his existing ideas or designs, blown it up in scale, and plopped it down in the lobby or plaza assigned to him.”) It is infrequent that anyone responds to it outside of the architect, the owner, and the artist. I question its almost exclusive use in public buildings and plazas.I propose that the art to be placed in public places be expanded to contain other forms of art—including, hardly incidentally, the art of movement that stems from the science and technology of our day.It is my hope that this museum exhibition will bestow the necessary credentials upon the art I love in order that, in the words of Tracy Atkinson, I can help bring to the public places of America “a public art that isat once appealing to the general public and is truly distinguished in the art world.”“I believe one can find truth for one’s time. One can find right and wrong for one’s time. Maybe none of these are eternal, but they are to be found. I am going to try to seek out the truth as long as I live, and always tell the truth as long as I live, not only to others, but mostly to myself.I will never lie.”—DWB71