Ugly Beauty: How To View Modern Art (Waldemar Januszczak Documentary) | Perspective 

Mr. Januszczak is a treasure. His videos are the best thing on You Tube. Informative, very engaging, and inspiring.

Spot on with Koons "Deep appetite for shallow things" he's a salesman, businessman, not an artist. like Hearst. Anish Kapoor discovered a new blue and copyrighted it so no one else could use it. Complete GREED. Shortly after someone else formulated the same colour with a different formula. It is available to all artists except Anish Kapoor. Edit: reading the comments, apparently he did the same with a black.

Thank you so much Waldemar! No one brings art to life like you. 💚💛💙

To me there's a vast uncross-able difference between Art & Exhibitionism. What so many modern exhibitionists seek feels like acceptance into or validation by the greats. I'm sympathetic to their need but not swayed enough to embrace performance anywhere near the emotions classical evokes. Usually my first reaction is "That's clever" or "Your joking, right?" Which pales a lot with the deep fascination & awe of human accomplishment I get from classical masterworks. I can't help myself but to categorize the majority of modern "art" in with advertising media & go from there. Simply put, like pop music it's fun to tap your foot for five minutes but ultimately forgettable. I am entertained by their egos though

Mr. Januszczak is one of a kind. Spell check can't grasp his name but I grabbed hold of his passion for art and ability to inspire art enthusiasts. I got through pandemic and grew as a direct result, enjoying being guided by the Hitchcock of the art doc. In my home we call him Waldy! Thanks so much for all your hard work. I wish I'd had these docs as a middle school kid bored to tears watching a television rolled in on a metal cart showing art I had zero interest in. Been to the National Gallery and Tate my interest peeked. Hip Hip Hooray.

I don't know anything about art. I only know what I like. Art is what I can't do. I thought so for a long time - then came Waldemar. He can explain art that doesn't appeal to me at first glance like no other. Thanks sir.

“It’s a beauty that’s been earned”. That struck me deep. Old cars, old houses, old cities. Etc. well said.

I deeply love films/videos presented/produced by Waldemar Januszczak - I wish I’d encountered him long before now and am grateful that it did finally happen. Just wonderful!

There is something disturbingly trivial about a lot if modern art.

Everyone has access to a pencil and paper, but only an artist can do magic with it. That is what Art is all about to me. All these expensive and luxurious projects don't promote art but make it inaccessible.

I think the biggest issue with modern art is how one seems to need a long paragraph explaining the context of the art. All I need to appreciate the classical works in the Lourve are my own eyes, with the modern pieces presented in this documentary, I only gain an appreciation for them after listening to an interview of the artist. Modern art seems unable to stand on its inherent qualities.

In 1919, a Romanian poet and philosopher wrote this : I do not crash the crown of world's marvels / and do not kill with my mind the secrets I meet on my way in flowers, eyes, lips, or graves... Some other's light strangle the mystery of the impenetrable unseen... His name is Lucian Blaga, and I got a very high grade at the final exam ( baccalaureate) for having read his poetry.

Old art has been filtered by time. I am very happy to be 50 years behind. Great video, once more.

such art i find it to be weak, it has no spirit , no soul. I dare anyone to experience an epiphany while listening/looking at Yoko's art .

I was going to walk over to the National Gallery of Art this afternoon, but instead this video came out so I stayed in to watch this. I've been on a WJ kick the last week or two. I'm guessing he'd be annoyed at me staying in to watch a video rather than going to an actual museum, but I wonder if he'd cut me a break since it was HIS video?

What is incredible…exceptional… about this film is the artists interviews. When I binge watch Waldemar’s videos and then come across one where I can witness him interview the artist, it makes my brain pause. It is a treasure.

That thumbnail is absolute perfection

Part of what people find objectional about this sort of modern work is not the stuff itself, but its dominance in art galleries, and the price its sold for. How is that worth X million dollars!!? What many are unaware of is that there's a whole field of decorator abstractionists. Many moderately moneyed like the spareness or texture of much contemporary modern art, but don't want to pay those prices or even have the responsibility to care that much for them. In comes the decorator artist. Decorator first, artist second. "Here's a portfolio to look at. What sort of things do you like? We spoke about this space here needing something warm, perhaps red? And something hanging here 4 metres wide and a drop of six." A commission is made, a work constructed, and sold for say six to ten times the cost of materials, plus consultation and wages. If someone falls into it at a party, the kids ruin it, or you get sick of it three years later, just throw it out. "We only paid a few thousand for it after all."

I just love how Waldemar explains every art movement. He helps me to understand so much. It is like studying art history on youtube und much better than in the 80s in real university 🙏🏻🤗

The video is a piece of art in itself. Playful, humorous, informative, above all thought provoking. I didn't have time to see it through in one go...but I did so anyway.

I love how Waldemar connects past artists with modern ones.

I love how Waldemar engages us as viewers and challenges the status quo notions of art and its history. His perspective truly brings out the raw emotion behind the arts and their many variations. Would love to take an Art History course with this chap.

Meaning, yes. Expression, yes. Beauty, mostly not. I think there is actually more consensus about what is beautiful than contemporary artists would acknowledge. It's just not so easy to put into words.

Glad to finally have you back on screen, Waldemar! You tell epic art stories like nobody else can!

So why not feature some "blank canvas" artworks, if emptiness is good?

I think this is my favorite of your presentations so far, Mr. Januszczak. You've made older art and contemporary art cohere in ways that cheapen neither. In fact you've elevated all. Thank you for this.

It is such a great pleasure to see him making the combination between the old and new art, to connect them in such in inspiring way. Thanks, Hélène

Another terrific video from Mr. Waldemar Januszczak. I can't get enough! Thank you so much, Waldemar. ...and thank you so much for spending time on Yoko Ono. I loved her installation, and even more I loved your interview with her. She's still going strong at 91.

Did not want it to end! Is so refreshing to watch a Waldemar. Thank you!

I've been watching ur videos nightly for the past week. Wow

Okay, thank you yet again. "Permanent change is what life is about." I shall be more open-minded--or honestly aware--when approaching current art of all types. "The struggle is important." Wow.

My current favourite of your series. These interviews are astonishing

Waldemar, your insights and creative interpretations are wonderfully idiosyncratic, often profound, and provocative in a personal way. But in this show your comparison of these current artists to past painters [dead animal paintings/Hirst, Tiepolo/Yoko Ono, Canaletto/creator of wall art, etc.], you side-step a huge difference: the artist's touch. In the older work, the connection of eye-hand brush translated onto the canvas with a sticky substance we call paint is an alchemical transformation. So the connections you're making regarding the similarity of subject matter or generalizations about delicacy or texture don't hold water. They sound good, but they don't work. You think we won't know that the important elements of a work of art are not subject matter alone but HOW the work is created along with that subject matter. While I love your personal insights (such as the one about your mother's picture), the show as a whole fails because your premise has serious faults. Better that you choose artists such as Kentridge, Dumas, or Doig to compare with past art. And what is "ugly" about Yoko Ono or Carl Andre or Anish Kapoor's work? Maybe elusive or ambiguous or conceptual . . . but ugly? No. They're even rather elegant. Still, I applaud you for your you-ness and humor, and often depth.

I love the video, the script and the narration. Absolutely an work of art in itself.

“Your money or your life!” “I’m thinking!” - Jack Benny Great lesson, W.J.! Lots of emptiness out there!

What a marvellous moment - Van Gogh's Hat of Many Candles! Priceless.

That has to be one of the best documentation I have ever seen. Great job, Perspective!

This video is the best thing I could have seen this morning. Thanks to everyone involved in its production.

When you use the word "Modern", when you mean "Contemporary", it confuses folks, and they say things like "I can't remember the last piece of modern art I liked!"; then when you say "What don't you like about Monet?", it confuses them further. Their derision is usually reserved for Picasso, those awful! distorted! portraits! because he's when your random worker bee stopped paying attention to "Modern" Art. 'Tis sad, but true. Damien Hirst should have been featured in the kitsch section, as in "The Kitsch of Death"; I unfortunately own one of his murderous pieces; it was a gift, I hate it, I won't sell it because I don't wish to pass along the bad, bad karma. I suppose I should bury it or throw it out, but I don't wish to hurt the feelings of my friend who gave it to me. Dilemma. And face it, Jeff Koons makes high-end home furnishings. Or rather, his "assistants" do. But of course Waldemar REIGNS in art docs; I just wish he'd make some new ones!

Art is creativity, beauty is balance. Light and darkness, inside and out.

Always the Best 💐 Thank you 🌷

The hazy cosmic haziness has a special vibrational feel of becoming the light. Its truly beautifull 🧡

Once again you have given us a brilliant view into the art world. Thank you.

Thank you Waldermar each of these videos are a Gem I Love them Thank You for making them. ❤️🙏

Excellent! I wish my National Gallery could have it's own Waldemar to breath this kind of life into it's presentations. I'll suggest they pay him to do it. So good.

Thanks, Waldemar. Beautifully done. When I was young I didn’t see much of the art in the modern. Now it makes me smile and think about what I’ve lived for or thought of while doing the living. Perspective maybe.

I dissent. Much of this is the Emperor's New Clothes. It reflects the religion of meaninglessness of our times. I was at a show in NYC where Yoko came into her long white chessboard. I say came into because clearly she orders a fabrication of elements with her millions of dollars, and it is placed there for her. I spent years as an art mover in New York, and got into nearly every museum, most galleries, met many artists, saw tons of shows. When Sean Lennon came in for the cameras to pose with Yoko sitting at the blank chessboard in her long fetishization of her late husband, it just felt dead. As did most of other empty objects in the group show. (Koons also just hires fabricators, he asked me once if I new anyone who worked with a certain material.) I had just come over from the Thrift Store art show, and the attempts at amateur obsessive art there felt far more genuine than anything in this exhibition. I bumped into a friend. She asked what I thought. I explained what I just wrote. She was shocked and replied 'You know I'm a gallery owner?' Of course I did. But that response suddenly made me realize the utterly cultish nature of the Gnostic imagery of Postmodernism. If you are in the cult you bow. Give me back ornamentation, unabstracted texture, narrative, and most of all deep meaning. As Tarkovsky said about art, ‘Art is born and takes hold wherever there is a timeless and insatiable longing for the spiritual, for the ideal: that longing which draws people to art. Modern art has taken a wrong turn in abandoning the search for the meaning of existence in order to affirm the value of the individual for its own sake. What purports to be art begins to look like an eccentric occupation for suspect characters who maintain that any personalised action is of intrinsic value simply as a display of self-will. But in artistic creation the personality does not assert itself, it serves another, higher and communal idea. The artist is always a servant, and is perpetually trying to pay for the gift that has been given to him as if by a miracle.’

I love much of modern art. In some places it feels as though the artist is trying to turn US into the artist with our eyes. We turn it into art in our own perspective.

Definitely I needed your heads up, overview and rationales. Great stuff.

I saw a Turrell exhibit at the Whitney in the 90's and it freaked me out.

dzieki Waldemar for your devotion also to bring knowlegde ansd to share the passion of art

OMG Waldemar! BRILLIANT IDEA to make a film on Soutine! Oh, PLEASE do it. I'm sure you can do it. Crowdsource it. We will love you even more!

Thank you Waldemar, your work here is a treasure!

Beautiful documentary. Thank you sir.

hadn't read about the candles on van gogh's hat. some lovely surprises. thank-you.

This is probably one of my fave documentaries you've written and performed so far. I absolutely adored what Mr. Koons said. (how much does it take to produce one of these things anyway? I'd love to see you do the one that you've always wanted to do...)

Awesome take on today's art.

Brilliantly thoughtful. My god, this was well done.

This film is itself a brilliant work of art. Bravo. And thank you 🙏.

Absolutely fascinating!

This is a wonderful video. Thanks so much for featuring Yoko.

What a beautifull interpretation “ the all embracing nothingness”

Wonderful! Yet again!

He is pretty much the best presenter of art I've had the pleasure of watching. I'll sing at his funeral and my voice isn't very good. Thanks for another great documentary.

Brilliant, thank you for this it was most informative and spot on

facinating observations Mr. J !

مجهود كبير و يحترم من قبل المتلقين و ثني عليه و نثمنه عاليا ... شكرا لهذه الوجبة الدسمة الجميلة

The NFL draft and a new Waldemar art doc. Been a good weekend

once again...perfection.

Waldemar! excellent show! again!

I mean, ideally you’d presume your wife can walk on her own. She wouldn’t need saving. But if she was any kind of mate she’s helping you carry out the art. 😂

I am so down for this!

You, my dear man, are the masterpiece. Thank you.

Another top drawer vid! Yesssir!

loved the exploration!!

Cudowne odcinek, naprawde! Thank you so much! You make the best Art History teacher ever. So fun. So sumptuous! And so for free. One ought admire that these days. And as for me this episode rules so far. Although the Dark Ages of Light... I die to know though what that last etheric projection in the back is.. hologram rafters? How? Also: Who? Cheers from Mokropsy

I’ve always looked as art in everything I see that interested me . When I look at other peoples art it tells me how they see the world and gives me a good idea on who they are . Creativity in people are different but we all want to get the same thing across the thinking part of what someone gets out of it is better than the visual responses. Art has been a love every since I picked up my first pencil and that library book I checked out in 2nd grade using shapes

If Waldemar is part of the video, I am watching AND giving up the like!

Some work went there as in a book! Thankful

Bloomin’ masterpiece

Oh my ! That was perfect.

Wow!

Waldemar, you give me hope!

lov it, all of it!!!!

As one scholar once put it: Yoko Ono is the only artist in history that is not famous for art she created but for the art she has obstructed.

Hi Waldemar. I'll follow you anywhere, but you lost me on this one. I think we're being conned by many of these artists and the galleries that represent them. I'd love you to do a video on the art market, and how galleries and collectors can promote an artist and make huge profits. And as for Jeff Koons, I'll misquote him: "At the end of the day, it all comes down to .....money".

incredible

Zo zo ontroerend ,weet dat het wederzijds is 🤗 de mooiste video ooit 😳

I just love this video - you are always good and often amzing but this is just a wonderfull video of modern art - you touch on a lot of important qualities of art and the whole looking on art - 🎶💗🎵🙏

I have a mad crush on Waldemar!

''One of the things I've always returned to is colour', says Anish Kapoor, artist.

Thank you Waldemar…..I was actuallly surprised at how Jeff Koons triggered my imagination after years of thinking I hated his art.

incredible!

we love you, Waldemar!

Saddo here. No. Not bothered! You didn't convince me as I hung on to every word. Several years ago I was in Venice when the Biennale was on - I go there most years - and an agent gave me a catalogue of art he was selling. We got chatting in a restaurant, I was nowhere near the exhibition. For months afterwards whenever we fancied a good laugh, we would open it and look at a painting. Yes. Saddo.

Waldemar could make a cow pie sandwich sound appetizing.

Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder. (whoever said that?) Why has art to be beautiful? Though I admit, I expect of artists, that they are capable of making art that one can recognise. If they can (Joseph Beuys, Picasso and many more) then they can do what they like. Great when Waldemar explains art!

I sometimes disagree with you, and other times think you're all wet. But, I do enjoy your videos and always find myself enlightened and uplifted at the end of each one. Thank you.

So Spot On. Cleaning- erasing layers of art history on buildings.. Such loss!

God, we love your videos!