Since they're Canadians... they're probably mocking you.
Sorry to point it out, but that's kind of how we do things. "Ooh here's a tribute to ya, eh? Just ta shoo ya hoo much we like ya, eh? Oh naw, don' mention it."
Then... once you've left... "PFFT! AHAHAHAHA, oh God, they actually pretended to like that ugly piece of crap!"
...
It is also equally possible that these people are insomniacs. One of my employees bought a BeDazzler after watching an infomercial late at night. Before long, everything she owned had been covered in rhinestones, and she was trying to BeDazzle her friends. This could just be a late-night infomercial gone horribly, horribly wrong.
This is really what "art" is all about, to make people think, and to try an appreciate the time it took to make this creation. The intricate choice in materials, the layout of each panel, the painstaking time from concept to completion.
Art is suppose to be controversial. Yes there is boring art, like most of the photography that passes for art. Then there is the new "art" in which you take an existing picture or photograph, and use a pre-packaged piece of software to "create" something new, but that too is rather lame. Performance "art" is also past it's sell-by date.
No I'm talking about creating "art", using anything that can conceivably be a blank canvas, like this Mini was used as a blank canvas for this artwork. Can any of you actually take a piece of granite/marble/stone and sculpt? Can any of you actually create blown glass creations? Can you honestly tell me that you can take any type of media (Canvas, Cardboard, Metal) and express yourself using various paint colors, creating a unique visual impression?
So what kind of reviews are generated here? Snappy comments, snide comebacks, and relentless sarcasm. It's truly sad when the people I thought were at least a bit open minded need to criticize something merely because it doesn't agree to their "narrow" sense of what "art" should be.
@UDMan: I too am sensing sarcasm... just a touch. But I'm going to nibble a bit anyhow.
In response to your question, the answer is yes. I paint, I work with clay, and I do simplistic and crappy sculptures in wood and soft stone with a Dremel tool -- mostly for fun, but also originally because I needed artwork for my home and was too damn cheap to buy them.
I'm also beginning to work with metal frames and fibreglas forms. I'm planning on making absolutely hideous front bumpers for Honda Civics, just to see if I can convince any teenager to buy them. No, I'm actually not kidding.
I have written a novel, and have had some interest from a publisher, however they do want some rather drastic changes that I don't think I can accept.
I also play four instruments, have performed in over 1500 performances of roughly 40 musical shows, have directed four, written five, produced two, and been musical director for seven. And I have two years of operatic vocal training.
And I'm a bank manager by trade. Seriously, what the fuck?
My point is not to toot my own horn, though. My point is, does all this therefore make me more qualified than you to say, "It's not art, it's a crock of shit, and it stinketh."? No. Art is, and should be, the domain of the public. Whether you're cultured or purely igorrant, the value of art should be its ability to speak to you.
I've had this argument with the director of an art gallery in one of my former hometowns. One exhibit he brought in was a 8" x 8" beam, standing up at a 45-degree-angle out of a corner. That's it. He started explaining what it symbolized, and the symbology was typical generic artist bullshit. "It's pointing towards a new tomorrow." Yeah, only if he can sell it for the stupidly high price he's asking. It's only TRULY art if it speaks to you, IMHO.
Okay, rambling over. Personally, to me, this isn't art, any more than that "dogs playing poker" painting was that hung in my basement. It's just rampant commercialism.
And yet, for all that, somehow it makes me smile, so it could be worth the effort after all.
@tekamul: Penguins, polar bears, dreams of self determination, whichever..
@elwood: That's what I thought! Either the media have got it all wrong, or the perpetrators of the Mini-tribute simply haven't heard that the old America is dead.
Or...gasp...could it be that there are still some American Dreamers out there in the world?
However, a bunch of hard core American Dreamers work at the Mexican restaurant near my house. Hanging out with those hombres brings a tear to my eye, it does.
11/17/08
11/14/08
11/14/08
11/14/08
11/14/08
Sorry to point it out, but that's kind of how we do things. "Ooh here's a tribute to ya, eh? Just ta shoo ya hoo much we like ya, eh? Oh naw, don' mention it."
Then... once you've left... "PFFT! AHAHAHAHA, oh God, they actually pretended to like that ugly piece of crap!"
...
It is also equally possible that these people are insomniacs. One of my employees bought a BeDazzler after watching an infomercial late at night. Before long, everything she owned had been covered in rhinestones, and she was trying to BeDazzle her friends. This could just be a late-night infomercial gone horribly, horribly wrong.
11/14/08
11/16/08
11/14/08
11/14/08
Art is suppose to be controversial. Yes there is boring art, like most of the photography that passes for art. Then there is the new "art" in which you take an existing picture or photograph, and use a pre-packaged piece of software to "create" something new, but that too is rather lame. Performance "art" is also past it's sell-by date.
No I'm talking about creating "art", using anything that can conceivably be a blank canvas, like this Mini was used as a blank canvas for this artwork. Can any of you actually take a piece of granite/marble/stone and sculpt? Can any of you actually create blown glass creations? Can you honestly tell me that you can take any type of media (Canvas, Cardboard, Metal) and express yourself using various paint colors, creating a unique visual impression?
So what kind of reviews are generated here? Snappy comments, snide comebacks, and relentless sarcasm. It's truly sad when the people I thought were at least a bit open minded need to criticize something merely because it doesn't agree to their "narrow" sense of what "art" should be.
11/14/08
In response to your question, the answer is yes. I paint, I work with clay, and I do simplistic and crappy sculptures in wood and soft stone with a Dremel tool -- mostly for fun, but also originally because I needed artwork for my home and was too damn cheap to buy them.
I'm also beginning to work with metal frames and fibreglas forms. I'm planning on making absolutely hideous front bumpers for Honda Civics, just to see if I can convince any teenager to buy them. No, I'm actually not kidding.
I have written a novel, and have had some interest from a publisher, however they do want some rather drastic changes that I don't think I can accept.
I also play four instruments, have performed in over 1500 performances of roughly 40 musical shows, have directed four, written five, produced two, and been musical director for seven. And I have two years of operatic vocal training.
And I'm a bank manager by trade. Seriously, what the fuck?
My point is not to toot my own horn, though. My point is, does all this therefore make me more qualified than you to say, "It's not art, it's a crock of shit, and it stinketh."? No. Art is, and should be, the domain of the public. Whether you're cultured or purely igorrant, the value of art should be its ability to speak to you.
I've had this argument with the director of an art gallery in one of my former hometowns. One exhibit he brought in was a 8" x 8" beam, standing up at a 45-degree-angle out of a corner. That's it. He started explaining what it symbolized, and the symbology was typical generic artist bullshit. "It's pointing towards a new tomorrow." Yeah, only if he can sell it for the stupidly high price he's asking. It's only TRULY art if it speaks to you, IMHO.
Okay, rambling over. Personally, to me, this isn't art, any more than that "dogs playing poker" painting was that hung in my basement. It's just rampant commercialism.
And yet, for all that, somehow it makes me smile, so it could be worth the effort after all.
11/14/08
11/14/08
11/14/08
11/14/08
I want to see them kicked so hard in the ass, that whoever pulls your foot out gets to be King of England
11/14/08
11/14/08
11/14/08
@elwood: That's what I thought! Either the media have got it all wrong, or the perpetrators of the Mini-tribute simply haven't heard that the old America is dead.
Or...gasp...could it be that there are still some American Dreamers out there in the world?
Nah. No way.
11/14/08
11/14/08
However, a bunch of hard core American Dreamers work at the Mexican restaurant near my house. Hanging out with those hombres brings a tear to my eye, it does.
11/14/08
Either way, get this thing out of my face. DO NOT WANT!
11/14/08
Taken alone: Awesome. Together: Scary.
11/14/08