For What It's Worth

There was a painting competition for high school students.  The subject matter was flowers. This happened in Hong Kong.

This was probably a project sponsored by the likes of urban parks council or parks and recreation, etc.  A noble effort to promote art and participation and drew attention to the merits of a city park.

The result of the competition, along with the works was posted outside the administration office, where the public can view during operation hours.

The  First Place winner of the group is

The Second Place winner is

I remembered the unsettling emotion I felt when I saw the results.  I was confused, perplexed.  I felt the judges were wrong.

It really was none of my business.  I was just someone who loves and appreciates painting, certainly not a juror by any stretch of the imagination.  Art is a very subjective thing.  Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  How do you agree or argue with a urinal being accepted as modern art, or breaking a Ming vase as a program of arts had any redeeming values.  I am venting again with these off the cuff remarks.  My apologies.

Anyways I was prepared to do a rather informal, unscientific survey of my own; I asked my painting cohorts to rate these 2 paintings.

I did not tell them what this was about or who did them.   I just presented them with the 2 images and asked them to rank them.  They did not even have to tell me why they ranked them that way.  I was not looking for a reason, just a ranking.  I believe this way people feel a little more secure in the sense that they need not expose their thoughts or feelings or biases.

To my delight, only one person agreed with the judges.  The rest of us thought it should be the other way around; that the Second Place winner should be awarded the First Place.

I don't know if this has anything to do with our social indoctrination or our immediate cultural environment.  I am sure that it does.  I have my own theory.

The top painting seemed more exuberant, full bodied and vibrant.  A value more often associated with prosperity, happiness and abundance.  It closely animated the Chinese saying of A Hundred Flowers Blooming Together.   Auspicious is the word that comes to mind.  A more traditional value in the Asian culture.

Whereas the second painting seemed more abstract and airy.  Ostensibly a merit in the Xieyi style of painting, nonetheless succumbed to the relative frugality of floral arrangements. There was a distinct feeling of the subject matter and the background, the host and the guest.   Whereas my cohorts and myself are Asians but we are now immersed in western culture and perhaps are more receptive to the  less representational presentation.

Or, my cohorts and I instinctively shared the same affinities.  The fact that we agreed on something just says we have the same taste, not that we are right or wrong.

Our tastes have changed.

Just a thought, for what it"s worth.