I found Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential to be very interesting. It is not like anything I am used to reading in an art history course. This of course created the question of why we read it. I felt that there can be parallels made between chefs and graffiti artists. Bourdain’s scars were a form of semiotic and the layering of his scars and marks mimics the layering of paint on a wall. The connections between chefs forms a community similar to the communities of graffiti artists. This brings in the topic of identity. The class presentation began with showing Ugly Delicious. This related through the cultural acceptance and blending of cultures. This transitioned nicely to art brut.
All of the pieces we read discuss the idea of beauty and the ideal. There is an importance in giving people something aesthetically pleasing. People react well to appearance and question things when they are not beautiful. This is seen in both ugly delicious and with art brut as a movement. Like food, art does not need to be beautiful to be meaningful. Standards of beauty are determined by the elite. Art brut is an authentic form of art which ignores the authorities which dictate art. Ugly food is a form of art brut. Art brut then relates back to graffiti in culture. Graffiti artists are removed from culture in the same way that outside artists are. Their artwork is a way of sharing culture, but it is not meant to be shown in the way that the elite and beauty standard makers think of art.