Is it true that Greeks are not "good artists"?

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Kimon

Actually that is not true. There are plenty of Greek artists that have gained world wide fame, it is just Greece is a small country so there are not so many of them as in USA or France or England.
I'll just give you a couple of 20Th century Greek artists and look it up for yourself:

Composers:
Theodorakis
Markopoulos
Hatzidakis
Xarhakos
Kalomiris
Loizos
Yanni (Remember him?)
Vangelis

Literature:
Elitis (Nobel)
Seferis (Nobel)
Kavafis
Kazantzakis
Palamas
Ritsos

Painters

Tsarouchis
Moralis
Lytras
Hadjikyriakos-Ghikas

I can keep on and on.

By the way "sucking" or "not sucking" it is just a personal oppinion. The fact that one IS an artist, considers himshelf to be one and the general public accepts him/her as such has nothing to do about personal oppinions. I beleive that 95% os the contemporary international "articts" suck, but this is just my personal oppinion.

sandman

I can't think of any nation that is/was culturally superior than Greece
please, can you name one?

Polar Bear

Well I'm greek, and a photographer, and I'm DAMN good.

Stereotyping is not cool.

AND El Greco was an amazing artist, in my opinion, and in the opinion of many others. Thats why i learned about him in a class called "master painters of spain" (he lived there, but was Greek.)

Timo M

You seem to have come to your conclusion on your own before you have even started....?

Look here for some Greek painters

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Greek_painters

Of course the most famous Greek painter was El Greco, but then he would be because he came from Crete!

The problem with any sort of painter or writer is that quite often they are completely unknown outside their own country.

I can only think of, for instance, one American painter and that is David Hockney, who is British anyway, and only the Americans would consider a painting of a can of soup or baked beans as 'art' anyway.

As regards writers you will find a list here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Greek_writers

and again most of these are virtually inknown outside Greece.

The same applies to the musicians and composers listed by others.

In terms of 'good' or 'bad' who can really say? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and whether a painting or book is 'good' or 'bad' is very much a matter of 'national' taste.

Very few 'artists' ever achieve international acclaim, and for any one that does, there are dozens more who remain unknown to the world at large.

As an aside, the Wikepedia entries I have given are in many cases 'stubs' how about somebody Greek does a bit of work on these pages and finishes them off???

ketilevedis

It's true that this question is not so good!!!!!!!!Yia sou.

Melody

I'm not too sure you'll be receiving the type of answers you want the way you've worded this question.

First of all, you can't judge anyone this day in age on their nationality. Not only is it morally wrong, but it can get you into a lot of trouble this way. Hundreds of years ago, you could have said the Greeks were amazing artists because it was cultural, and ideas about art, democracy- you name it- came from its CIVILIZATION. But as you can tell, this is completely different.

Today, there's been a mixing of culture worldwide, and art is based a lot less on science. The art of the ancient world was meant to be more funcional than aesthetic-- but now that we know HOW to make a fortified building that won't fall down, we can worry about the more creative side of art. Moreover, we share the ideas of those all around the world, so it's not fair to compare one nation alone to that of another.

On another level, art is completely subjective. The very fact that you are able to form opinions about this issue show that 1) you are a subjective human being (this one is quite obvious) and 2) you are an artist if you VALUE art.

Art is a reflection of emotion. What could possibly 'suck' about that? It's subjective for two reasons: 1) the artist created it- and it comes from his/her own personal perceptions, and 2) you are the reciever, and interpret it your own way.

Art must satisfy both counterparts in order to be viewed as "good". But what if you're not interpreting it the way the artist intended? My point? No art 'sucks'.
This day in age, art is one of the few things worth living for. Does it mean you have to be a fan of all types? Certainly not. But it can't be defined as "good" or "bad". Art is subjective AND shouldn't rely on culture.

niki

OF COURSE NOT!

THAT IS NOT TRUE..!

I AGREE WITH KIMON

Macedonia is Greek

Vangelis
Spanoudakis
Elia Kazan
Kazantzakis
Your mothers bf
Elitis
Kavafis
Elias Koteas
Seferis
Hatzidakis
Many more

randallfairbrook

william baziotes

though dead is still considered modern

in my opinion he is a wonderful artist...

dvatwork

Are you talking about contemporary Greece? It is not clear what you mean--- in other words, your question kinda "sucks".....but anyway, all cultures have artists that run the gamut from mediocre to sublime. To ask such a general question as the one u have posted shows how superficial you are not to mention lacking in common sense.

I don't think that it's true that Greeks are not good artists. If you look at every period of their history, beginning with B.C., you will see that they have produced masterpieces in every period.

Can you say the same about your culture? Oh, I didn't think so....

cer448

Like the previous, Greek is too broad - in art there are periods and they were influenced by many things such as rulers ideology etc...
Greek influence is prevalent during the Ancient periods (1000 b.c. etc also known as Archaic)...there were ideals shared between the Asians Greek and Indians for a time and therefore art that is Greco-Buddhist emerged from the Alexander period...during the Roman Empire and Byzantine era Classical Greek art (nudes) were replaced by the Christian forms (Mary & Baby) more common in Greek Orthodox now...for a while during the Ottoman Empire Art was scarce but time marches on and Greece would have been under rule of the Venetian Empire during the 15 - 17 th centuries (post-Byzentine) and there was definitely art coming out Greece then....look up Cretan School it would be unthinkable to imagine what art be it fine art, sculpture, or architecture would be like WITHOUT the Greek influence?

Gabriella

Thanks, Kimon, you already answered the question. :)What made you ask? Is there a nation/ethnic group/country that "produces" nothing but excellent artists?
Looking what is happening in the American film business (just to mention one example), I have my strong doubts.
I could rather accept a question about what is really happening in all genres of art worldwide.

Funsumer

No,

Geeky is too broad to even be useful

And artistic ability I don't think depends on your intellectual or personal interests. I've seen many different personality types be both not artistic and extremely artistic - so personal experience leads me to that conclusion.

demoune

george michael?
georges clooney?
jennifer aniston?

bodyguard

low ball man, low q...

Greece is a country enriched and well-endowed in culture and ancient history. We are not deficient in skilled artist and artistic geniuses.

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