Real Piece of Art from Brian Nigus on Vimeo.
If the vimeo link is down, click HERE for the projected video.
By having the projector in plain sight it states that these paintings are just projections of the real thing. The DVD player facilitates this idea of recorded, or pirated paintings. The speakers blare out the sound so you are forced to hear the program. This correlates to how many fakes and reproductions we have to see in books, shops, and websites (which are in no way able to uphold the justice of the actual painting found in a museum). The projector is also propped up on one of my friend’s actual paintings. By using it for such a degrading purpose, rather than hanging it to look beautiful and be contemplated upon, it speaks to the idea of real present art being overshadowed by copied or “projected” masterworks. Also, it should be mentioned that this recording was done by hand. It would be wrong for me to say that it was purposeful to the thought of hand-made art, (even though it ironically could fit in that way) it just so happens that I came across this channel on TV one day and all I had was my little digital camera. So I turned off all the lights and held my camera as still as possible. I am just thankful I had the camera nearby, because these things were selling like hot cakes.
The intent of this installation is to invoke conversation about quality art. Are these paintings in the video good quality paintings? What makes it a good or bad quality painting? Does the shopping network add value to the art by making hundreds of reproductions? Why or why not? Is it even a real piece of art? Or is it merely an accessory to the wall in your home? Should art in general make better people? Or should people make better art? These are all questions I’ve toyed with in this exploration. Please feel free to do so yourself.