MASTER BEN LAU’S FIRST CYBER SPACE EXHIBITION

Pastorale silkscreen (Looted by HMK Art Inc., deceased/bankrupt art dealer)

1976

Tang Dynasty Master Yan calligraphy

WHAT DID ART “GURUS” DO IN THE NAME OF ART?

(An autobiographical satire)

Many years long ago, Ben Lau, this book’s author, won the first “One Man Show With Publication” Award offered by a cultural center in Hong Kong. Naturally, that event became the talk of the town and critics from all over scrambled to write about the man and his Art. Here are some news clippings of their articles:

I was surprised to find that NOT a single person among them had been able to  or truly know what he/she talked about. Not that they had given me crappy critiques or anything like that. In fact, many articles were complimentary by nature. They would have rubbed me at the right spot had I not also demanded that they understood their subject matter first. That subject matter is Art,– with a capital letter.

They had betrayed a complete lack of understanding in art by the way they interpret my works. Before that encounter, I thought Art was an easy subject and it should be well-versed by most citizens who consider themselves civilized or well-bred,– But man, had I come in for a full-fledged surprise!

Imagine my amazement when people in the art circle all tried to impress you with what they had learned from this or that famous critics or such and such philosopher. They reveled in their use of the ears rather than  trust their own eyes. Talking to a person with little trust in his/her own intuitions was hard work. A conversation of that sort was more unbearable than the rituals at the Catholic church! Listening to high-brow phonies who had lost the ability to speak plain and easy was such nightmare! And all that time you were wondering if honest and decent speech had finally given way to the speech of swindle and impostors, in the manner of punctuating every other line with jargons scavenged from the postmodern dumps. Having to maintain a listening pose,standing and nodding your head at every turn of such gibberish abuse was no fun! The air inside was suffocating, and I was desperately trying to breathe. So I had to interrupt this extremely well-dressed, lilac fragrance man with manicured hands at his long discourse, with a ” I think you are full of shit! “, and walked out on my own reception! Never to hear from again! When art is being used like a cheap shot to enhance some eager upstarts’ sense of self-importance,  you cannot but feel defeated or miserable or both!
Ever since that episode, I had to re-assess the small Hong Kong art world under a more realistic light. At precisely that point, one became awakened to a world of “art gurus”, a chorus of semi-deranged souls all speaking arty nonsense in rapid delirium.
Also it was quite a spectacle to imagine a horde of art critics in the small “city state” of Hong Kong, all of them trying to carve out a living from Art, a subject hardly anyone understood!

The professional impostor cannot see Art but that is a secret between himself and his mirror! He would lay down his life for that secret since it is a trade secret.

If you tell him: “Seek Truth in Beauty!”

His reply must be: “Over my dead body!” Well, this is happening here in small Minnesota, in the U.S.A.,–ahh–in the entire world! So it is not just a Hong Kong phenomenon,–but a global one!
One such Art “guru” to point is the retired Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, now the author of an “art book for Dummies”. Think upon the title of such a book and  imagine the insults for the public he had piled upon. If imposture were a form of thievery, Mr. T. H. is guilty of the high crime of looting from the ancient civilizations through a false claim of expertise! However, he is so thrilled with his art of imposture that he is now beside himself, unstoppable! He looks into his mirror and congratulates himself so hard! He just could not shake off the impulse of calling the vast American public dummies. Wow, isn’t it plain gorgeous that it has taken millions of trusting dummies to make his museum director career a shining holy grail of success!?
Fancy that: no one had dared to expose him during his long tenure as the director of a significant museum in New York–even to this day as he is happily retired from that post of loots.

Imagine the cockiness written all over this happy thief’s face each morning when he looks into the mirror!

Little knowing he is now in the cross-hair of the Alpha Seer, he presumes that a golden sunset retirement beckons.
It reminds you of a burglar, old, and decrepit,– given a chance by destiny to walk away happy, retired, and scotch-free,– but he has instead decided to do it one last time and get caught by a waiting cop.

“Mr. Thomas H: How are you? It has been a while!” said the cop turned warden. He is the Alpha Seer, the one who is awake to beauty.

(I was a student at the Art Students League when Mr. Thomas H. was at his heydays.)

My friend and mentor, Knox Martin also sent a message that year.

I do not remember what was said in the letter, but this envelope has been in my file ever since. It has essentially summed up in a few words that the art critics had failed to say in a thousand.

Almost 20 years later, the seeing of the great master remained unchanged. His passion for Art can never get old! Here is another envelope from him that I have saved since that time.

Ben Taishing Lau

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