PAINTING BY NUMBERS

December 1999
		Is art serious business? "Aertists" Komar and Melamid don't think so -- and their satirical views have raised eyebrows throughout the art world. Now, Alex Melamid answers your questions and comments.

Forum introduction Is art "nonsense"? Does art serve as a cultural archive? What about the hype and snobbery of the art world? Can anyone be an artist?   Nov. 3, 1999: Paul Solman examines the work of Komar and Melamid. Browse the NewsHour's coverage of Arts & Entertainment     Komar and Melamid's online exhibit: Most Wanted Paintings on the Web.

They've been mavericks from the beginning, churning out paintings that gained them a reputation as dissidents in their native Soviet Union. After moving to the United States in 1977, Vitaly Komar and Alex Melamid continued their jabs at mainstream culture and politics. The duo have also turned their scrutinizing eyes toward the art world itself, demonstrating against what they see as a diefication of art's creative processes. "Let's take all this nonsense about art," Melamid told The NewsHour's Paul Solman at a seminar for Columbia University art students. "They can say terrible things about God, but they cannot say anything about art. It's like the holiest of the holies. And believe me, I'm an atheist in both ways. Art is nonsense." Recently, Komar and Melamid added a third partner to their creative lineup -- an elephant named Renee. Now, the two have taken their irreverent approach to art public, allowing survey results to determine the most and least desired artistic elements in over a dozen countries around the world. Komar and Melamid then created the most and least wanted paintings for each country, incorporating colors, shapes and characters from the survey results. For the two painters, the project uses art to get to the core of modern society. "Numbers are innocent," Melamid says on the project's Web site. "It's absolutely true data. It doesn't say anything about personalities, but it says something more about ideals, and about how this world functions. That's really the truth, as much as we can get to the truth. Truth is a number." Is art "nonsense"? Can statistical data lead to artistic understanding? Alex Melamid answers your questions and comments... Benjamin Dykes of Champaign, IL asks: If only prosaic, reflective or philosophical art makes sense, then art is indeed nonsense. But I think this is an extremely limited notion of art. Do you really believe that art is "nonsense"? Alex Melamid responds: Yes, I do truly believe that art in itself is nonsense, regardless of how we define it. But that does not make art meaningless.   S.E. Thompson of Los Angeles, CA asks: I think that being creative is a gift. To share that creativity with others is art. A culture is determined by its creativity/art. Don't you think that art is the ultimate communicator that transcends the boundaries that separate humankind -- and that's why finding things like the markings of cave-dwellers is so important? Alex Melamid responds: What is creativity? If creativity is something sacred, then art is a religion. And as a religion it can exist to be believed in. It has a place among other religions. A leap of faith is required to participate in art. And it seems that a lot of people truly and faithfully believe in art, and God bless them.   Vic Turner of San Francisco, CA asks: True art -- art that touches, informs, alters -- makes sense, I think. What do you think about the hype and snobbery of the art world? That might be considered nonsense. Alex Melamid responds: There is no true art or not true art. There is only art that you believe in or you don't. Faith makes art, not the other way around. The snobbery of the art world is like the fallacy of the church -- it does not undermine the religion itself.   Tamara Hayes of Ft. Meade, MD asks: However "good" or "bad" art is, why does it always come with a hefty price tag? How can something with no definition have such a high value? If a famous artist can paint squiggles on a canvas and sell it for ludicrous amounts of money, why can't my squiggles be just as valuable? Alex Melamid responds: Things we believe are costly. They are manifested by the value we place in them. And art that we believe in we prize more highly. Not all squiggles are equal. This is reflected in the contemporary art market in terms of price.