Friday Talk: What is good and bad art?

Enquiries: lwag@uwa.edu.au or 08 6488 3707

The title of this talk recalls the style of British art historian, museum director and TV presenter Kenneth Clark – who once illustrated the difference between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ taste by comparing a room decorated with Swedish furniture and a ‘typical’ British council house sitting room with ducks on the wall.

In this wide-ranging overview, Emeritus Professor Richard Read explores the idea that ‘bad’ works of art reveal the problem that ‘successful’ works of art conceal and that this effect of ‘failure’ has therefore been an essential quality of truly experimental art, especially over the last century.

UWA Campus Partner: Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions.