Abstract Figures Doing Vaguely Athletic Things

Here’s an old wives’ tale. It is alleged that on the completion of the Taj Mahal, Shah Jahan ordered the right hand of the Chief Mason to be cut off so that the masterpiece could never be recreated.

Whether that is true or not I cannot verify but I’m not wholly against the de-limbing of artists especially if they’re like this

“Everybody wants something. and we're no exception. But as a twenty-something couple living in New York City, we need a little extra help getting what we want. Which is why we're putting our wants up for sale with these paintings.”

The unnamed 20-something couple paints a harmless, pop-art painting of what they want - buffalo wings, an iPhone, a check for a million dollars, and then they sell it for whatever that particular item costs.

At what point does a stupid idea cross the line and become one that is frighteningly original? The rise of the Sex Pistols divided rock n’ roll forever. It was a watershed moment. At the time, however, it took a very insightful mind to see it for what it was, as a moment of genius, rather than the tuneless stringing together of profanities it appeared to be. If it weren’t for them, and the emergence of punk, we wouldn’t have Nirvana, Oasis, Guns ‘N’ Roses and Green Day.

But sometimes, however, one has to really take stock and wonder. We have reached one such time, with the creation of the London Olympics logo, which has polarised opinion in the design world. Take a look.



A. Is it a piece of crap?
B. Is it an act of genius?

I’m in Category A. I’m sickened to the point of nausea by it and won’t be swayed by love or money to think otherwise.

Some reactions: (Courtesy: Creative Review magazine)

Pros

It’s original and brave.

It contains none of the following: Big Ben, bulldogs, crowns and assorted other royal paraphernalia, the Union Jack, cross of St George, Pearly Kings and Queens, abstract figures doing vaguely athletic things.

It will work across a range of media, which will be vital in 2012 when coverage of the Games will break over a range of formats – eg mobile phones, PCs.

Children will probably like it and, like Whitney, we believe that they are the future…

Cons

You can’t read it very easily.

It already seems outdated – New Rave may be very On Trend with the fashion world this season but this still has five years of life to live out.

It’s inelegant and brash (unlike the restrained beauty of, say, Aicher’s work for Munich in 1972) - and what does that say about London?

It looks a bit like something Neil Buchanan might have put together on Art Attack. And, as a result, graphic design will receive another pasting in the popular press. “How much? My kid could have done better…”

If you stare at it long enough, some dirty-minded bloggers have been saying, it kind of looks like Lisa Simpson giving someone a blow job.

If I were the Art Dictator Of The World and my say mattered, I’d say, if something draws this much debate, let it be, let it play out. If the history of art and design has taught us anything, it is that you can’t police art. The London Olympics is five years from now. Who knows what design will be in five years? If its crap, its crap. Fuck it, it’s only design. Nobody dies.