ON JUSTIFYING ART

It is unfortunate that, yet again, we have another artist using letters, justifying his/her work in spite of the critique: see – https://voussoirs.blogspot.com/2019/01/gold-coast-dazzle-removed.html. Following grammatical criticism of her work, Rose Nolan has been bold enough to justify her ‘All Alongside Of Each Other' art in Sydney’s Central Station by saying, “It is not an English class, it’s about the rhythm of the words” – see: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/apr/09/all-alongside-of-each-other-artwork-at-sydneys-central-station-exposes-a-grammatical-sore-spot

The response sounds much like the student who has spelling, punctuation, and grammatical errors in an essay, arguing that these are irrelevant; that it is only the meaning that is important, as if the two might be separate.*

The critic is placed in an awkward position, a little like this artwork, because one is just not allowed to question artistic genius or inspiration irrespective of grammar or anything else. Is this a ‘no rules in art’ proposal, or just ‘my rules’? Either way, such art alienates rather than enriches. This circumstance does beg the question: is artistic expression necessarily isolated from a coherence that recognises common necessities, be these grammatical rules or something else; that art is truly open slather, anything at the whim of the artist’s ‘originality’?

Tradition held that something had to conform with all conventions before a work could be beautiful: matters personal, including opinions, were irrelevant.

Artists today seem to believe otherwise with responses that appear to be both deaf and indulgent. Nolan expresses her surprise that people might even be worried about the grammar and, it seems, not be overwhelmed by the power and presence of the art. “It’s interesting that people have locked on to that,” she says.

Alongside

As a preposition, alongside means ‘close beside’, ‘next to’ or ‘together with’:

The trees alongside the fence have all been damaged by the wind. (near)

Put your bike alongside mine. (next to)

I find it difficult to cope with this illness alongside all my other problems. (together with)

We also use alongside as an adverb, meaning ‘along the side of’ or ‘next to’ something:

I parked my car in the drive and William parked his alongside.

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/along-or-alongside #

One does wonder what the future of anything might be when feedback is given such dismissive attention; when other opinions are considered to be irrelevant.

Is this the expression of our ‘selfie’ world?

*

NOTE

One might liken this situation to a stuttering news reader, arguing that there is no issue here, as the news is the most important matter; that the manner of delivery is irrelevant.

#

The critics point out that the inclusion of the 'OF' in the title of this work, (which is the work), is grammatically incorrect; that the text should read: 'ALL ALONGSIDE EACH OTHER.' That the artist argues that the inclusion of the incorrect 'OF' gives the whole a certain desirable rhythm is worrying, as if this 'OF' is not an unnecessary, jarring pause.

Nolan points out that this is the way she would say the words. Here one has to express further concern, because such a position would allow deviant expressions like 'SHOULD OF,' that appear frequently in ordinary speech as a phonetic variant of 'SHOULD'VE' - 'SHOULD HAVE' - to become acceptable public statements as art, along with many other awful possibilities.

There is another point to make: the more we legitimise errors in our grammar, the more the rules of grammar break down, leaving us with a shambles that seems to be growing every day in our media and social media.