Irreverence and the Arts

Over the history of visual arts, we as consumers and viewers have celebrated the irreverence of artists and their inability to conform to 'normal' ways of being in the world. We applauded the impressionists who broke away from realism, throwing form out the window. We embraced the cubism, and the further breaking down of light and color into elements of line and blocks. We even held Pop Art on a pedestal when it rejected art for art's sake.

However, when we view these works, we do it with all the solemnity of a church sermon--in stark, quiet, white cubes that sterilize the experience. We speak in hushed tones with our arms tucked neatly at our sides as if we were visiting our puritanical grandparents.

Comedian Ursus Wehrli rejects this method of interacting with the art he loves. His own personal take is to love it by taking it apart. Tidying things up a bit. He dives into each painting, as if he were a housekeeper with a penchant for nicely squared and tucked sheets, setting shoes in line and color coordinating the closets. By taking his most beloved works apart, he examines them on a deep level, marveling at their constituent parts, organizing them in a way that he finds humorous.

This is true art appreciation. Each of us has a distinctive way of interacting with the the art we love (or hate) that is uniquely our own. Act like an artist, throw custom and reverence out the window, get INTO the works, and do it your way.