There were these two guys, artists Vitaly Komar and Alex Melamid. They wanted to find out something that true artists really do not want to know. The question they wanted answers to was "What do people like in a painting?". In order to be Thomas Kinkaid successful, wouldn't we pursue this? Here in touristic St.Augustine we know artists who keep pumping out the same paintings over and over again. Hey! ya gotta eat right? One artist we know considers himself a "factory", unaware that Warhol beat him to it 35 years ago. Robert Torchia wrote in his book The Lost Colony that it was the proliferation of the tourist images and the discouragement of the contemporary that prevented St. Augustine from being a "real" art center.
The dishwasher sized painting above is the result of Komar and Melamid's polls for the United States. Thirteen other countries were more or less scientifically surveyed over a period of years.
Although some minor variations existed, the majority of people worldwide preferred a painting of a realistic landscape with blue as the predominant colour. In the U.S. , green comes in a close second. Americans surveyed also wanted an historical figure portrayed in the painting .Wildlife over domestic animals and walking contemporary figures in a group are also desired.
Link here to see the results from other countries.
Does anybody know where I can get a painting of the St.Augustine lighthouse? ........................Just kidding.....................there are as many paintings of the lighthouse around here as Commissioner Jones' got turtleneck sweaters.
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