To think that this isn't art?

[MissHooliesCardigan]

I don't understand art at all. I can't draw or paint to save my life. However, I can appreciate it and be moved by it and I go to galleries reasonably regularly. I don't think that all modern art is rubbish and don't sign up to the 'I could do that' school of thought.
However...I went to the new wing of the Tate Modern today and saw this:

Bear in mind that this is the most visited modern art gallery in the world so anything in it is therefore considered to be pretty special. Can anyone convince me that this isn't just a pile of bricks and some blank canvasses? (Sorry for the weird black line, I've got a crack in my camera).

We once went to the Tate modern (and I mean "once"; two art student daughters dragged us) and among the pieces was one made of bits of chainsawed tree, which DH surprisingly liked. DH is a down to earth northern bloke and rather dismissive of modern Art.

About a month later we were in the Lowry (again dragged by daughters) and there was a very similar piece on exhibition. DH (scruffy biker bloke) called across the room, "Tink, doesn't this remind you of that piece by X we saw at the Tate modern last month?"

You could absolutely tell that 99% of the people wandering bemusedly round the room were thinking "You total pretentious wanker" while the remaining 1% who were enjoying the art were furious at being out wankered by someone apparently more knowledgable.

"But doesn't this remind you of that piece we saw at the Tate modern?" has become something of a pisstaking family catchphrase

I'm getting into this now. This represents the struggle of working people everywhere.

tethersend, You don't have to, you just crumple two sheets of paper (stuck together) at once. Tadaa.

Miss hoolies, that's actually quite good. I can see that being an actual piece with pretentious interpretations thrown about ... Unraveled mother figure supporting... the family hierarchy... The golden child atop... Innocence of a newborn full of hope.

Brilliant

Pretentious bollocks for gullible people who are desperate in their desire to seem 'ahead of the crowd'

Abyssinian Thanks! I did think that the ironing board could be symbolic of women's oppression

Thanks! I did think that the ironing board could be symbolic of women's oppression
Toilet paper- represent the men sitting on their arses with one rebellious one helping out with the bum wiping and mothering in a controlled closed environment.

There is a lot of contemporary art that does nothing for me too. I used to feel like something was wrong , why can't I get why this is interesting to people. Now, if it doesn't hold my interest I move on to find some art that does. It's no different to other things, TV shows, films, music. Conceptual art is like freeform jazz for me, I can't get into it so don't try anymore.

I love Art, I love some modern art, but I also think plenty of it is pretentious crap and very much "emperors new clothes", and that there is no talent involved, just twattery

Absolutely, especially Emin, ugh.

I went to Liverpool Tate years ago and nearly fell over what I thought was remnants left by builders: it was the famous bricks. What a load of old shit, I have similar in the garden, maybe I should hawk it on eBay! I could get millions!

"tethersend, You don't have to, you just crumple two sheets of paper (stuck together) at once. Tadaa."

I know! And yet he spent all that time slavishly copying it

Can't find an image of it, but the same artist also has a piece which is a pile of gravel on the floor. Only each piece of gravel is a carefully moulded and painted piece of clay. Must've taken him AGES, and yet everyone (including me when I saw it) walked past scoffing at a pile of bloody gravel

Just a note on the pile of bricks- it's called Equivalent VIII; there are seven more piles of bricks in this series, all different arrangements of the same number of bricks. I'm not a fan, but that pile of bricks alone is not the complete work.

We have something very similar in our warehouse to pic 2 in the op. I find myself staring at it for hours. 'what can I get for it' it's a modernist socio-economic canine look at how baked beans interact with fungi.

It's still bricks. In piles. Like at B&Q. Just arranged differently.

MissHoolies's work is actually far more interesting.

The first thing I thought for the second image was "how many bottles of shower gel on the go?" which was an engaged response that led to me thinking about my MIL who also has lots of shampoo bottles on the go at any one time. Then it made me realise how it is this model that has led to DH opening new bottles of shampoo and shower gel when there is still some left in the old ones, and how this means the floor of our shower is full of bottles that function like skittles when you try to get in the shower, and how much it infuriates me and makes me feel profligate as I remember a time when I struggle to replace shampoo when I had run out because I was on the dole.

See? All that meaning and personal reflection upon life and existence from just one of MissHoolies's pictures. It provoked a meditation on consumerism, consumption and washing practices within a family.

I actually know a couple of fairly well-known modern artists. Some of their work is brilliant, but I know for a fact that one image is just a photo of the artist's ironing board in a cupboard.

Werkz I'm so so glad that you get something from my work. I'm loving being an artist. What do you think of these pieces?

Tinkly - That is priceless!

ART is something different to each individual person

If you make art, it is what you enjoy, how you communicate, if you have something to say, or to make money or a combination of these

Art can be in any medium, just calling something ART, makes it art

Art should get you thinking, it might make you; admire, hate, laugh, cry, angry, ambivilant, worry, protest - generates emotions positive and negative

Art has been made since the beginning of mankind and may be before

Do any other animals make art ? Some people may say yes

Does nature make art ?

Aebj that's a flying pig

Well the art that the OP initially posted has certainly got everyone talking about art- and what art is.
Is has also caused a reaction.
I suspect this may be part of what the artists intended.