August 19, 2006: Naked woman hugs dead pig in performance art (NSFW)

[capnhowdy]

Psstt... the pig is only sleeping.

[Stonan]

Okay.

1. I live with/am marrying an artist. She only had to say WTF about this.

2. I can go into the slum area of any city and probably find some nut dancing around with dead rats.

Is this art? No.There isn't ANY part of this that is art.

Is this the sign of a derranged mind? Yes.

If this is what she considers art then the guys with the butterfly nets better find her before she decides to do an encore with larger lifeforms.

But that's just one man's opinion, I may be wrong....

[footfootfoot]

hee hee hee

The lady obviously likes a bit of pork between her thighs.

I didn't think anybody could stoop lower than Damiean Hurst the Worst and Tracey Emen the Empty in trying to convince people that they're artists but this braindead, talentless, bottom burp has.

Art my arse!

[kisrael]

I think one measure of art is its ability to get people thinking about art, and by that measure it succeeds.

I ain't arguing it's great art, or even all that good.

It's like this class I took in "The 18th Century African American Novel" or some such. By most account, these works weren't great literature, full of their own stereotypes, melodrama, derivative of the popular works of the day.... but they were still worthy of study, partially because of the environment they were written in. From that, I came up with my personal "multiple intelligences theory for art". Just like it doesn't make sense to measure people on a single scale and call that "intelligence", I think art can succeed on many different planes. Great art, like Mozart or Shakespeare, will succeed on many levels, but pretty much anything that has gotten any attention at all probably works on at least some level.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by kisrael

I think one measure of art is its ability to get people thinking about art, and by that measure it succeeds. ~big snip

Well, it does do that, kirk. But to the great unwashed (holds up hand), people who think of "Art" as beautiful paintings, sculpture and Katkeepers Enamels, much of the contemporary performance art, this one in particular, degrades and diminishes the term. It changes "art is a good thing" to "art is sometimes a good thing".

Sure, it's worth is in the eye of the beholder, but when a performance claiming to be art, causes people to question the value of art in general, it sure doesn't help the cause. That's particularly true when the funding is revealed to be NEA or from some source we support.

I suppose this would be the lunatic fringe of art, but it's always the lunatic fringe that get the press and does the most damage to the cause.

[kisrael]

The funny thing is that 90% of NEA is this truly uncontroversial stuff, lots of support of folk arts and all the rest. And stuff along these lines and "Piss Christ" make it easy targets. But I don't want that kind of thinking to frame this debate.

Art has had big problems ever since photography entered the scene. Once it became easy to produce "realistic" images of life, art has had to figure out its own purpose.

I guess people are distrustful of art when it seems like it might be divorced from craft, or at least practiced skill. They doubt the sincerity of the artist and think it might all just be a big scam.

FWIW, this is the only place I've seen word of this exhibit, so it doesn't seem to be setting the world on fire anyway. And it's better than the other tact whcih brings us Thomas Kincaid galleries and maybe even these goddamn jittering smilies I get to chose from to make up the gap between informal written speech and the spoken word.


I mean hell, why do I have the option of this and anyway?

[kisrael]

My favorite bumperstickerable slogan is "Good Art Does Not Match Your Sofa."

Naked lady cavorting with dead pig certainly doesn't match MY sofa.

At least, now that I got a decent slipcover for it.

[BlacKat1980]

And what is it about a naked chick hugging a dead pig while cutting it up is aesthetically pleasing to "art" lovers?? Give me a pianting of a flower or buiding any day!

[milkfish]

Originally Posted by BlacKat1980

And what is it about a naked chick hugging a dead pig while cutting it up is aesthetically pleasing to "art" lovers?? Give me a pianting of a flower or buiding any day!

Why does it have to be a picture of either a pig or a building, when it can be both?



Is it art? No, of course not...it's architecture.

[BlacKat1980]

Very artistic indeed!! But where, may I ask, is the naked woman to make it "Art"?

[milkfish]

Originally Posted by BlacKat1980

Very artistic indeed!! But where, may I ask, is the naked woman to make it "Art"?

She must be inside cooking lunch.

[kisrael]

Originally Posted by BlacKat1980

And what is it about a naked chick hugging a dead pig while cutting it up is aesthetically pleasing to "art" lovers?? Give me a pianting of a flower or buiding any day!

And what is it that makes you think art has to be aesthetically pleasing?

Is Picasso's Guernica aesthetically pleasing?

How "pretty" something is isn't the point for a lot of people. Pretty is fairly easy. Thought-provoking is fairly easy too, as this thing shows, and for "art" lovers is probably the more important of the 2. Of course the best art might combine "aesthetically pleasing", "thought provoking" as well as "displays technical skill and craft".

With this woman, I'd say you get one out of three. Plus, boobies.

[xoxoxoBruce]

How "pretty" something is isn't the point for a lot of people. Pretty is fairly easy. Thought-provoking is fairly easy too, as this thing shows, and for "art" lovers is probably the more important of the 2. Of course the best art might combine "aesthetically pleasing", "thought provoking" as well as "displays technical skill and craft".

In that case what is not art? You are aesthetically pleasing and thought provoking, but I wouldn't call you art.

art
n.
1-Human effort to imitate, supplement, alter, or counteract the work of nature.

2-a. The conscious production or arrangement of sounds, colors, forms, movements, or other elements in a manner that affects the sense of beauty, specifically the production of the beautiful in a graphic or plastic medium.
2-b. The study of these activities.
2-c. The product of these activities; human works of beauty considered as a group.

3-High quality of conception or execution, as found in works of beauty; aesthetic value.

4-A field or category of art, such as music, ballet, or literature.

5-A nonscientific branch of learning; one of the liberal arts.

6-a. A system of principles and methods employed in the performance of a set of activities: the art of building.
6-b. A trade or craft that applies such a system of principles and methods: the art of the lexicographer.

7-a. Skill that is attained by study, practice, or observation: the art of the baker; the blacksmith's art.
7-b. Skill arising from the exercise of intuitive faculties: "Self-criticism is an art not many are qualified to practice" (Joyce Carol Oates).

8-a. arts Artful devices, stratagems, and tricks.
8-b. Artful contrivance; cunning.

9-Printing Illustrative material.

I guess the first three cover what most people think of when you say art.
I suppose art should be man made.... and have a purpose to the artist. But that would make a paint by numbers kit eligible to be called art, so there has to be more to it.

[kisrael]

Personally I say that , my definition is "Art is What You Can Get Away With". It's a mix of intention and convincing other people of your intention.