Art Guide

By Andrew Mackenzie

Congratulations to Andrew Frost for succeeding in doing what so many (including myself) have tried but failed to do; convince a band of Auntie executives that an art show should and could be presented by someone who actually knows quite a lot about. well, art. In the process he has made a good art series that is lively but not MTV, smart but not curriculum, accessible but not patronising, and all this against the backdrop of the neurotic cultural cringe that seems to infect the large majority of ABC arts programming. A class-conscious cringe borne of the idea that art taken seriously is snobbish and culturally elite. A cringe that endlessly seeks out quirky stories and vaudeville set-ups, to make art more palatable to the masses.

Series like Operatunity Oz or Painting Australia, which copied the popular genres of Idol and reality TV respectively, desperately chase the popular audience, but end up short-changing the art audience every time. And often they're not even popular. The top 100 rated programmes for a week in April had Painting Australia weighing in at 97th. This is what happens when you try to be all things to all people. Sport shows can seriously talk to a sports audience, gardening shows can seriously talk to a gardening audience, cooking, science and politics are all the same. But for some reason, to take art seriously is to risk elitism.

This search for the 'light side' of art, and sad chasing of the popular viewer has ensured that the majority of art content on TV is presented by people best known, not for their knowledge and refined understanding of art, but for their talent on the stage, usually making people laugh. Let's think. Sunday Arts is headed up by Michael Veitch, who is currently in the Broadway musical version of The Full Monty and who "started his career in TV comedy, on legendary shows such as The D-Generation and Fast Forward", so the ABC website says. A couple of years ago there was that disastrous rebranding of Critical Mass called Vulture (8 months in piloting, 8 weeks on air, umm.) headed up by Richard Fidler who was "well known as a member of comedy group The Doug Anthony Allstars", so the ABC website says. Before that, Critical Mass was fronted by Jonathan Biggins, who handled the chair quite well, but was regularly out of his depth when the subject strayed from theatre. He too, after all, is an "actor, singer and comedian all rolled into one talented performer", says the ABC website. By heavens, the ABC must think that art is a real laugh.

Question: aside from the occasional warmly authoritative appearance of Betty Churcher, what other genuinely arts-knowledgeable professionals have ABC arts trusted to present a whole series? Not a one-off bio-pic, or a Sunday sofa studio show, but a whole proper documentary series on art. I'm happy to be corrected here, but I've trawled the archives and it seems that the last time we had someone who really knew their onions, their Monet from their Manet, was that arrogant swaggering (but unfortunately monstrously intelligent) Robert Hughes. Mind you Landscape with Figures: the art of Australia was in 1975!

Though more Matthew Collings than Robert Hughes, Frost does share one strong quality with both; a commitment to his own opinion, his own voice, and his own knowledge about contemporary art. This is not surprising, given his founding role in that straight shootin' blog The Art Life, which shares the name of his series.

The series made no attempt to be all encompassing (it was only three episodes after all), or even particularly rigorous in thematic selection (three episodes, exploring art and the suburbs, media overload and the eternal life and death and life of painting). Rather than feeling like an essay or thesis, it was like someone strolling you through the studios of a loosely connected group of interesting artists, with a meandering plot line mostly inside Frost's head. An internal narrative that more or less gets onto the script. This 'first person' voice added vital intimacy. It was directed artfully by Brendan Fletcher, who captured that 'art through my eyes' intimacy, while keeping the whole series stylishly framed and even a bit groovy. It was playful and witty without going for the cheesy pun.

The artists were allowed time to talk, pause, concentrate and unpack the meaning in their work. Prescriptive meanings were avoided, as were facile comparisons. On the whole, Frost showed a respect for the work being shown that is regrettably novel for TV.