THE PERFECT PAINTING: WHAT THE PUBLIC PREFERS IN ART, RENDERED
IN ONE TRUE-BLUE IMAGE
Paintings by Komar and Melamid, text by Richard B. Woodward
(p. 36-7)
 
"Imagine an art world governed not by haughty curators and
filthy-rich collectors but as a democracy -- of, by and for the
people. What would a genuine people's art look like?...To find out,
the Russian-emigre art team of Vitaly Komar and Alexander Melamid...
adopted the techniques of politicians and manufacturers. With
financing from the Nation Institute, they held focus groups and
conducted a public opinion poll, producing the first nationwide
survey on people's attitudes toward the visual arts:
 
Do you prefer paintings that are related to religion (20%) or not
related to religion (63%)?
 
Do you prefer figures from a long time ago, like Lincoln or Jesus
(56%), or more recent figures, like John F. Kennedy and Elvis
Presley (14%)?
 
Do you like to see expressive brush strokes on the canvas (53%), or
do you prefer that the surface of the canvas be smooth (35%)?
 
Which do you think you like better, a painting of one person (34%) or
a painting of a group of people (48%)?
 
Would you rather see paintings of outdoor scenes (88%) or indoor
scenes (5%)?
 
Which season would you like to see depicted? Winter (15%), spring
(26%), summer (16%), fall (33%).
 
Would you say that you prefer paintings in which the person or
people are nude (3%), partially clothed (13%) or fully clothed
(68%)?
 
Do you prefer paintings predominantly of children (11%), women
(6%), men (2%), doesn't matter (77%)?
 
Do you prefer paintings of wild animals, like lions, giraffes or
deer (51%), or domestic animals, like dogs, cats and other pets
(27%)?
 
Do you tend to favor paintings with sharp angles (22%) or with soft
curves (66%)?
 
If you had to name one color as your favorite, what would it be?
Blue (44%), green (12%), red (11%), black and purple (4% each), brown
and pink (3% each), yellow, fuchsia, beige, maroon, mauve and white
(2% each), orange, gold, teal and peach (1% each).
 
Which type of outdoor scene appeals to you most? Forests (19%), lakes,
rivers, oceans and seas (49%), fields and rural scenes (18%), city
(3%).
 
Do you prefer larger paintings (41%) or smaller paintings (34%)?
If large, would that be the size of a dishwasher (67%), a full-size
refrigerator (17%) or a full wall (11%)?
 
Thinking back to the paintings of people that you have liked in the
past, for the most part were the figures working (23%), at leisure
(43%) or posed portraits (27%)?
 
On the basis of a phone survey of 1,001 adults, they executed two
canvases: one that reflects the favorite colors, subjects and
techniques of the respondents; the other, the least favorite.
 
'I must confess it's not the best picture in the world,' says Melamid
about the ersatz Hudson River landscape. The artists were more at ease
making the offensive work."
 
That's it.
 
Robbin Murphy
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