GrierSun

The Onion doth bring artistic tears

2014-03-11T20:10:00.001+05:30

National Endowment For The Arts Provides $80 Million To Discourage Talentless Hacks

“The independent federal agency said it intends to provide the nation’s exceptionally unskilled and deluded artists with cash grants ranging from $10,000 to $25,000 in order to sway them from continuing with their derivative and atrocious work, thereby significantly bolstering the overall quality of art in the United States.

“In order to promote a flourishing artistic climate, we must use our resources to ensure that those individuals with the least talent stay away from the arts,” NEA acting chairperson Joan Shigekawa told reporters at a press conference, flanked by existing pieces of insufferably trite art, including various examples of black-and-white photography and scrap-metal sculpture. “Providing the nation’s inept amateurs with the funding they need to pursue hobbies and professions unrelated to fine arts will revitalize this country’s creative output, furthering our goal of promoting works that aren’t a complete embarrassment.”

“The vitality and vibrancy of the American cultural landscape hinges on helping these clueless individuals realize their lack of potential,” she continued.”

Lisa Gerrard–Sanvean

2013-08-11T20:08:00.001+05:30

What a voice. I absolutely loved this!

Let’s Call a Brush a Brush

2012-11-29T18:33:00.001+05:30

‘Beyond the Froth and Jargon’ - by Jackie Wullschlager

They are waking up to the ‘All Concept No Visual’ phenomenon over at the Financial Times.

The Attack of the Articulate Artist

2012-04-25T15:16:00.000+05:30

.Art Basel Miami. This was in December, 2011. A gathering of ‘artists’. Articulate ones. Talent in the backseat, if at all present.

How To Kind Of, Sort Of, Say Something, You Know, That Sounds Like Something.

http://vimeo.com/33115416

A sample dialogue -

“Well, Raphael, what I love about this and about the video and kind of what you were doing and maybe it is redundant to put this out there, but I do think what's fascinating in the context of Art Basel about this whole question is you have never stated or tried to define what you are doing as art, nor have you said it's not art. So we are dealing with this situation of deliberate, I believe, intentional ambiguity about the process and the meaning of what you are doing, and I happen to love that positioning right now. Because so much of art history that I know of has to do with firmly taking a position that's just outside the realm of what's permissible in art, and saying I'm taking this non-art thing and saying this is art now and once you take that position you wait for the boundaries to shift and incorporate you. It seems to me that your sensitivity towards this process is so acute and developed that you've decided that the question of is this art, does this belong in art, is it not art, is no longer relevant, it's no longer valid, so with that kind of hovering in the air it makes us think about all the other stuff that's associated with what you are doing without ever having to ask ourselves, although I know some people in the room are saying what does this have to do with contemporary art at all? And it is the very fact that you're not asking that question that makes it so interesting to me.”

http://vimeo.com/33127136

There are 88 videos of these people. It leaves one a bit dazed.

Noise. Noise. Noise. Noise. Noise. Noise. Noise. Noise. Noise. Noise. Noise. Noise…. Noise… Noise…. Noise….Noise…

Artspeak!

And then, for light relief, I watched the BBC program -

Goldsmiths: But Is It Art? (Episode 1 - Part 1)

All parts on YouTube and worth watching. You sort of feel for all the students here. They are so earnest and hopeful. You really want wonderful things to happen to them.

On the whole, the art is a bit of a let down though.

Particularly memorable is the ‘artwork’ of a girl who pulled down her pants and shit in a glass jar in front of the audience, then put the lid on the jar and spray-painted it gold.

Some performance art. It raised quite a bit of questions in my mind. Did she hold herself all day until the crucial moment? Did she wipe herself afterwards? Did she wash her hands?

No, the BBC didn’t show it. The performance had taken place long before they did the show. The art tutor recounted it. The audience didn’t ‘get it’, he mentioned. They were actually offended.

To end on a poetic note, here’s Robert Beverley Hale -

What is art? Robert Beverley Hale

Your Money, Or Our Art

2012-04-21T06:12:00.000+05:30

Naples museum director begins burning art to protest at lack of funding

“Antonio Manfredi of the Casoria Contemporary Art Museum (Cam) said the privately sponsored institution risked closure unless it received cash from the regional, national or European authorities.

On Tuesday evening, he launched what he termed "an art war to prevent the destruction of culture" by setting light to a painting by a French artist, Séverine Bourguignon, worth up to €10,000 (£8,200).

"This is a war. This is a revolution," Manfredi said. "And in a revolution, there are winners and losers."

He vowed to continue destroying works from the permanent collection at the rate of one a day until someone took notice of Cam's plight.

"There are about 1,000 works, so this could go on for years," he said.”

Christ, Returned

2012-04-20T06:06:00.001+05:30

U.S. returns 474-year-old painting to Jewish owner's heirs

“Christ Carrying the Cross Dragged By A Rascal" by Italian artist Girolamo de' Romani has been restored to its owners.

“The piece was one of 70 items stolen from the collection of Frederico Gentili di Giuseppe, an Italian Jew who had lived in Paris. He died of natural causes in 1940, a month before the Nazis invaded France, and his children and grandchildren had already fled the country.

The collection was sold by the French Vichy government in 1941 and Gentili's grandchildren filed suit in 1997 to get it back.”

The Date Paintings

2012-04-10T15:06:00.001+05:30

New York-based conceptual artist On Kawara paints ‘Date Paintings’.

“Each one features the date of the day it was painted in white against a backdrop that varies from black or dark gray to bright blue or red. Dates are written and abbreviated in accordance with the custom of the country in which the painting is executed.”

“…the surprising variety in the seemingly simple paintings, variations that only become clear with so many pieces alongside one another for comparison.”

“A few of the paintings, on closer inspection, feature faint traces of the artist's process. For instance the exhibition's second-most recent piece, the bright red "FEB. 17, 2011" (2011), features the outline of a concealed layer of paint on which Kawara had painted the date an inch or so further to the right. “

Yes. Deep. Utterly. Didn’t occur to you, did it?

Flowers Over Wrestlers

2012-03-23T19:23:00.001+05:30

Photo Courtesy – BBC/AP

Vincent van Gogh still life is deemed genuine

“Van Gogh originally painted a canvas of two wrestlers and then painted Still Life With Meadows and Roses over it.

Using a new X-ray technique, researchers examined the two wrestlers in more detail.

The brush strokes and pigments pointed to Van Gogh.”

Sometimes artists don’t know when to stop. The wrestlers actually look more interesting than the flowers.

Bank on the Blank

2012-03-21T08:55:00.001+05:30

Woman spends $10,000 on invisible art

Ms. Davison purchased the work ‘Fresh Air’ for $10,000 from the MONA

“By Praxis - Conceptual - Fresh Air -This is a unique piece, only this one is for sale. The air you are purchasing is like buying an endless tank of oxygen. No matter where you are, you always have the ability to take a breath of the most delicious, clean-smelling air that the earth can produce. Every breath you take gives you endless peace and health. This artwork is something to carry with you if you own it. Because wherever you are, you can imagine yourself getting the most beautiful taste of air that is from the mountain tops or fields or from the ocean side; it is an endless supply. Naming Rights- You get an entire wing of the museum named in your honor for this purchase. The owner of this artwork will receive a title card with a description of the piece to be mounted on your wall, and used when explaining the work. You will also get a letter of authentication, and a pdf copy of the catalog! For this category, you will also get invited to the after-party if you are in New York City in November of 2011. Important! You are not buying a visible piece of art; you are buying the title and description card for the imagined artwork.”

iPhone and iSteal

2012-01-21T23:34:00.001+05:30

This is what happens when the goons go hi-tech.

“They used an iPhone-style mobile to film valuable treasures in a retired vicar’s home in Co Armagh – while an art expert on the end of the line told them what to steal.”

“The owner, a retired vicar, was beaten, bound and gagged by the armed pair who stole-to-order near-priceless paintings including Canalettos painted in the mid-1700s.

The robbers, who had Irish accents, also took valuable antique furniture and other collectables. Before fleeing they smashed up anything left behind with a hatchet.”

The Art in Anarchy

2012-01-08T11:45:00.001+05:30

Voina Explains Why Firebombing a Police Tank Is a "Piece of Art"

“In their most recent action, called “Cops Auto da Fe” or “Fucking Prometheus,” Voina used Molotov cocktails to light a tank-like police transport vehicle used to relocate prisoners.”

---

“If an activist secretly burns a cop truck at night, it won’t be art. It will be the revenge of an activist,” Plutser-Sarno wrote. “But to burn it openly and proclaim to the entire country: ‘I am an artist. I burned down your prison, symbol of totalitarianism. This autodafe is our art action,’ then it becomes a piece of art. We made people discuss it as an artistic action.”

---

If this is art, we are really going downhill.

I’m having particular trouble understanding this line – ““According to Voina, the difference between performance art and political activism is art’s public nature and the importance of laying claim to your work.”

Yeah? So, let’s see, by this logic, if a bunch of terrorists bomb a public area and take credit, they can now proudly label themselves artists?

If you are a War Criminal……

2011-07-23T18:04:00.001+05:30

……Hang on to your Modigliani.

How Modigliani Helped Capture the Last Serbian War Criminal

Painting courtesy whistlepunch via Flickr via Artinfo.com

Croatian Serb leader Goran Hadzic was arrested after he tried to sell a Modigliani painting that he probably stole during the Croatian war in the 1990s.

Bullshitting The Bullshitters

2011-06-27T17:20:00.003+05:30

Artist Statement by Charlotte Young

I'm always awed and amazed by the ‘profound thoughts’ people claim to have regarding their art. Indeed, they are so profound sometimes that the explanations need to be explained and then they don’t come across as sounding particularly deep. Just daft and, frankly, dishonest.

Or, hang on, perhaps, just very, very creative. I think 'the art statement' should in itself be turned into an art genre. The artists are already outdoing each other in it as it is.

You can have a go too here at the Arty Bollocks Generator -
http://www.artybollocks.com/

Billy Bang

2011-04-15T10:36:00.001+05:30

Billy Bang Quintent–Live at the Knitting Factory

Billy Bang–Tunnet Rat

Billy Bang, Jazz Violinist And Vietnam Veteran, Dies At 63

This is fantastic music.

Raag Bhairavi- Indian Violin- Raginder Singh

2010-12-25T13:21:00.001+05:30

Raag Bhairavi- Indian Violin- Raginder Singh

Raginder Singh is just brilliant!

Here’s information about the raga he is playing -

Bhairavi – ITC Sangeet Research Academy

A nice explanation and a selection of music videos of Raga Bhairavi from Chandrakantha Courtney. She’s marvelously talented herself, by the way.

The Bombed-Out Car of Baghdad

2010-12-23T19:29:00.001+05:30

Photo Source – Guardian/Anthony Devlin/PA

More photographs can be seen at The art of war: Jeremy Deller's Baghdad car bomb installation

I propose another bright art idea – take the art savants on tour to Iraq – I mean, the whole bloody place is a piece of art by now.

Stephen Colbert and Steve Martin discuss art

2010-12-11T11:12:00.000+05:30

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Exclusive - Steve Martin Extended Segment

www.colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor & Satire Blog</a>

March to Keep Fear Alive

Can you swim in art? Of course, you can.

2010-12-10T22:02:00.000+05:30

“During the run of "Suprasensorial," MOCA's new show on Latin American light and space art that opens Sunday at its Geffen Contemporary location, a lifeguard will be in attendance. Towels will be handed out. And disposable bathing suits will be sold at the bookstore. All so that visitors can see and experience for themselves what looks like a psychedelic swimming pool.”

The highly immersive artwork was conceived by Brazilian artist Hélio Oiticica and filmmaker Neville D'Almeida

“MOCA curator Alma Ruiz says the idea behind this piece, which the museum re-created based on original drawings with input from D'Almeida, was "to bridge the language of art and cinema."

Will my opening a grocery store and having people come shop in it bridge the language of art and commerce?

Just wondering.

And the Turner Prize Goes To…

2010-12-09T20:21:00.004+05:30

No, actually, it went to Susan Philipsz.

“Philipsz is the first artist working with sound to have won the prize. I can imagine people saying she is just a singer, with the sort of voice you might feel lucky to come across at a folk club. But there is much more to Philipsz than a good voice. All singers, of course, are aware of the space their voice occupies, of the difference between one hall and another. We know it ourselves, singing in the shower. But the way Philipsz sites recordings of her voice is as much to do with place as sound. She has haunted the Clyde and filled her box-like Turner installation with the ballad Lowlands; she has called across a lake in Germany and had her voice swept away by the wind on a Folkestone headland.”

Before Ms. Philipsz turned street singing into ‘sound sculptures’, it was known as busking.

I’m not knocking music, naturally, I live for music, and I don't want to draw definite boundaries either, but I can't help wondering if it wouldn't have been more appropriate for her to have tried sweeping the Grammy’s, you know? I’m sending a visual sculpture there next year. And if they don’t accept, well, we know how it requires a certain je ne sais quoi to appreciate modern art, and many people just don’t have the broadminded intelligence.

Conceptual Art?

2010-11-25T20:58:00.001+05:30

I came across this old but interesting op-ed in the New York Times -

Has Conceptual Art Jumped the Shark Tank? – By Denis Dutton

“The appreciation of contemporary conceptual art … depends not on immediately recognizable skill, but on how the work is situated in today’s intellectual zeitgeist.

…Future generations, no longer engaged by our art “concepts” and unable to divine any special skill or emotional expression in the work, may lose interest in it as a medium for financial speculation and relegate it to the realm of historical curiosity.

In this respect, I can’t help regarding medicine cabinets, vacuum cleaners and dead sharks as reckless investments. Somewhere out there in collectorland is the unlucky guy who will be the last one holding the vacuum cleaner, and wondering why.”

Henyrk Górecki - Symphony No. 3, Op. 36

2010-11-22T16:21:00.002+05:30

Henyrk Górecki - Symphony No. 3, Op. 36

This is so utterly marvellous. Here is a description of the music ‘Symphony of Sorrowful Songs’ by Chia Han-Leon.

And two interesting interviews with the composer -

How Gorecki makes his music – an exclusive interview, By Norman Lebrech

Composer Henryk-Mikolaj Górecki, A conversation with Bruce Duffie

How Van Gogh's Bedroom Was Restored

2010-09-09T19:46:00.001+05:30

Six-Month Restoration Ends of Vincent Van Gogh's "Bedroom"

"You're always weighing up the advantages and disadvantages, what's safest for the painting, how was the painting meant to look, what impact will it (restoration) have," Ella Hendricks said. And her work is reversible if ideas change.

"We don't want to retouch everything. We want to show that the painting has a history and achieve much more of a balance," she said. "We don't have the illusion that we should return the picture to an undamaged pristine state."

After a good deal of home renovation work and a terrific Monsoon, I find myself in the unenviable position of having to restore some of my own works. Drat.

HAARRUMPH! Neigh! Neigh!

2010-03-28T10:36:00.001+05:30

Video - Spirit - Swimming (Water Horse Music) by IselinChan

An equine with an eye for art

Buggs is a 13 year old quarter horse cross, who was taught to paint by his owner Carol Jensen and now he is making a name for himself in Ironridge, USA.

"Jensen, 56, discovered Buggs' aptitude for painting while looking for ways to keep the restless horse occupied during the winter months, when poor weather keeps him cooped up in his stall. She had heard about people teaching horses to paint and figured that Buggs, whose personality equates to that of a smart child who acts up when bored, seemed like a good prospect. In October 2008 she started training the chestnut gelding to hold a stick in his mouth and target the tip on a designated area.

When he performed the action, she rewarded him by pressing a clicker and giving him a treat. Then she gave Buggs a paintbrush, moved his head up and down, and praised him when he repeated the action on his own."

You can see the video of Buggs painting here -

http://www.jsonline.com/general/37714089.html?bcpid=8725036001&bctid=71660369001

I think it's wonderful when people take the time to ensure their pets have enriched, interest-filled lives.

Look! I dressed up my kid - und es ist Kunst!

2010-03-25T18:41:00.002+05:30

Artist dresses her baby as Hitler

Mother dressed her baby as Hitler, other dictators for exhibit

Danish-Norwegian artist Nina Maria Kleivan was wheel-chair bound for some health problem, got bored and got sewing. She dressed her four-month old daughter Faustina in costumes of nine infamous dictators, sold the photographs to a collector and exhibited the collection - to overwhelming public disapproval.

The public seems to have a problem with an 'innocent' baby being 'exploited' this way. Especially with the Hitler costume. People really overdo the PC thing when it comes to Hitler. Sometimes it seems you can't even have a conversation about him without people trying to outdo each other in decrying his 'great evil'. If you don't, you know what you are. An Anti-Semite just like him. Good grief.

So what if she dressed Faustina as Hitler? It was, as she said, for her 'art' project. Soon the PC lot will be pelting potatoes at actors for having the temerity to dress up in Third Reich dramas and movies.

Anyway, I don't have that sort of a problem with Kleivan's project - her kid, her fashion sense - although the kid might have plenty to say later on, something on the usual lines of 'How you could embarass me like that, Mom? Don't you dare show those photographs to any of my friends! And don't point out the online links either!"

No, it's their family affair.

My problem is with this being hailed as art.

Ms. Kleivan obviously thinks it is and she explained, "We are all born as a blank slate, who knows who we will become. I wanted people to think about where tremendous evil comes from."

According to one of the commentators on the article, "Ms Kleivan is making a profound statement!"

Oh yeah? What nonsense. Most people either go, "Oh, she's dressed her baby as Hitler!" or "How dare she dress up her baby as Hitler!" The profound nods only come after the artistic explanation.

And in any case what is so profound about it? Yes, of course, Hitler began life as a baby. It ought to have been obvious, without having Ms. Kleivan to come point it out.

Another commentator said, "As anyone familiar with current research on child development knows we are not "blank slates" at birth. Genetics influences personality in a complex relationship with environment and experience. "

Yes. Of course.

This commentator goes on to say, "Besides, think of the guilt the "blank slate" view can bring. Should we blame Hitler's mom for the Holocaust?"

Didn't understand this one. If it's in the genes, it's Mom and Pop's fault anyway, isn't it? Can blame a whole slew of parents on this score - Chamberlain's for creating such an appeasing personality, Roosevelt's for his decision to limit U.S. border entries to Jewish refugees, Churchill's for his not ordering direct hits on the railway lines leading to the camps, and so on.

But that's drifting away from the topic.

How is this art?

Because she sews costumes?
Because she dresses up her baby?
Because she makes 'profound' statements?
Because she got a collector to buy the photos?
Because she outraged everyone?

If everything is art, why is anything art?

The Nude In The Window

2010-02-27T12:00:00.000+05:30

Hey, Look! She’s Naked! But It’s Art, So It’s All Right.

"Ms. Hanford is part of the gallery’s latest exhibit by Brian Reed. She stands fully naked under a suspended web made of various objects including shark eggs and teeth, beads and clay pipes. Her nakedness is essential, Mr. Reed explained, “so she can be fully at the center of that connectivity” of energy."

“I believe that the base of any culturally free city depends on its acceptance of the body nude, in art and in life,” Spencer Tunick wrote in an e-mail message.

“If you’re walking down a street in New York City and someone is naked in the window — and so children and whoever can see it — you’re depriving people of their choice,” said Daniel S. Connolly, a managing partner at the law firm Bracewell & Giuliani, and a former lawyer for the city who handled public nudity cases. “That’s where you butt up against other people’s rights.”

In the end, Ms. Hanford made it through her four-hour shift in the window without police intervention. Paul J. Browne, the department’s chief spokesman, said they took no action because there was no lewd act.

Beyond the legality, Mr. Kuby offered up another theory for the lack of interference: “The truth is, even the cops like looking at naked people.”