Robert Amos Creates Artistic Life on Fort Street by Brian Grison

    On January 22 Robert Amos wrote an article in the Times Colonist in which he declares art is alive and well on Fort Street, specifically on the two blocks between Blanshard and Cook. He begins with a discussion of Polychrome Fine Art Gallery and the, at the time, current exhibition there. He doesn't note that Polychrome is actually not between Cook and Blanshard. However this small geographic quibble is probably less important to Victoria's art community than Amos' opinions and pronouncements on art.
    
   Being blessed by Robert Amos as a "very talented painter in his own right," must be as mind numbing as being slapped on the cheek by the bishop during Confirmation. How would Amos know what talent is, when psychologists, art theorists, anatomists and even the Pope don't know? How can Amos claim that Shawn Shepherd is talented, let alone "very" talented? Perhaps Shepherd is very, very, or even more very, talented? Considering the rest of Amos' 'creation' of art on Fort Street, we should hesitate to except his declaration of who is and isn't talented.
    
   What does Robert Amos mean by the phrase, "in his own right," with reference to Shepherd's talent. I suspect this cliché phrase is meant to soften the blow of really being declared a failure. Does this phrase not that actually imply that Shepherd is not really talented in anyone's perception, but that's okay as long as he thinks he is? This is like receiving an 'A' for effort to make up for coming in second or worse. Isn't this phrase, "in his own right," pontifical, condescending and dismissive while appearing to be wise and intelligent?
    
   Robert Amos compliments the Polychrome owners' ability to discover fine art and fine craft treasures at garage sales and auctions. He does not mention that Polychrome displays and sells these treasures at (verrrrrry!!!!) reasonable prices, (and good for them). However, the fact that Amos characterizes Shepherd's backroom picture framing practice as keeping "the wolf from the door" has a subtly disdainful tone, seeming to suggest that if Polychrome was a good gallery, it would not need to stoop to either picture framing or garage sale visits.
    
   Robert Amos is even less generous toward Samatha Miniatures, the current exhibition of photographs by Duane Prentice at Polychrome. While he refers to the photographer as a professional (without defining the term), Amos outlines the show with dismissive passages, such as "the title suggests a Buddhist theme," and "Indian Miniatures? Not really," without explanations. He claims "the small scale and surprisingly insipid colours work against engagement with the imagery," again without explanation. His last statement, "While the pictures are not without interest, there doesn't seem to be anything here to elevate them to the realm of art," clinches Prentice's doom. Amos' use of a double negative in the first half of this final sentence eliminates the hint of praise embedded in his grammatical gymnastics, and the second half of the sentence cancels even the faintest possibility of praise with irreversible damnation. However, though probably without irony, Amos' undermines his own omnipotent authourity by misspelling of the exhibition's title. Does the Times Colonist not have an editor?
   
   Following his visitation at Polychrome, Robert Amos tours the Victoria Emerging Art Gallery, a bit further west on Fort Street. Amos establishes this new gallery's credibility by reminding us of its origins in a "high-profile art show and contest at Avenue Gallery" last spring. Like much contemporary cultural products of a student or amateur or commercial nature, the art itself is considerably less high-profile then the promotion - a clear case of 'hype and hoopla'.
    
   Robert Amos describes Ellen Manning, proprietor of the Victoria Emerging Art Gallery as a promoter. According to him, "she has a two-year contract with each [of the winners of the Avenue Gallery contest] and is grooming and representing them for commercial success." As well as not explaining this dubious sounding relationship, he does not tell us who these lucky 'new' artists are, or what Manning's motives are. I admit to certain dark suspicions, and I believe Amos ought to as well. However, he might agree with the gallery's mandate because he too is adept at self-promotion for commercial purposes.
    
   Robert Amos describes the Victoria Emerging Art Gallery as a unique enterprise in Victoria. How can this be? With a bit more painterly and tasteful commercial slickness, much of the merchandise I observed there would be comfortable in any of the local tourist or interior decoration stores that call themselves art galleries.
    
   Saving the most delusional for last, Robert Amos' introduction to SerSon, further down Fort Street, characterizes that strange business as an art gallery. However, this store is only another addition to the growing list of establishments in Victoria that are not art galleries, but pretend to be because Victoria has the reputation of being a cultural hub - and there are a lot of gullible people in this town. SerSon is the equivalent of a cultural dollar store. It is amazing that Amos, who must know the difference between an art gallery and a junk store, would seem to pretend otherwise.
    
   Without considering good taste, Robert Amos praises SerSon for its eagerness to "appeal to any taste." Appealing to any taste is a normal business practice, for house painters, florists and hairdressers, for example. Real artists do not appeal to anyone's taste - not even their own. Commercial artists also will appeal to anyone's taste, though the owners of SerSon who churn out the impasto garbage hanging on their walls don't qualify as even commercial artists. Anyone buying 'fine' art there is being deceived, and, whether or not he realizes it, Amos is perpetuating the affront to real art, real artists and real art galleries, both commercial and non-commercial, that such businesses represent. However, I'll agree with him that SerSon does have lots of inexpensive pretty frames to sell.
    
   Surely the purpose of art criticism is not to tell the viewer/reader what to think. Surely art criticism is not unqualified opinion backed up by an authoritarian and condescending voice. Surely it is not just pontifical bombast. And, surely, there are more interesting art matters in Victoria for Robert Amos to write about - even badly.