[edible snowman]

im sure someone will take this as a deep insult but i thought it was funny. read it on seanbaby.com

THE MEANING OF ART:
It's a common misconception that art has meaning. I've been to enough gallery critiques to know that after 8 years of art school, a person can trick themselves into thinking some ass-colored paint splat is telling them something about how smart they are. Don't fall for this. Any painting that has a secret meaning is just an artist sucking his own dick about how some people can't unriddle their profound wisdom. And their profound wisdom is usually that yellow looks pretty next to purple, they don't like television, or how the government should fill their asshole with sexy miniature firemen.
This is a true story: when I was in art school I had a dipshit in my painting class that painted a guitar on fire. He stood in front of the class and actually said, "I painted this to show my burning desire... to write songs for the guitar." I still hadn't stopped laughing by the time another girl showed her swirls of nonsense colors and said, "I was trying to show the emotion... of anger." It was about there where the professor asked me to laugh the tears out of my eyes somewhere else.

That is exactly what's wrong with artists. In the 10 or 12 hours you spent on a painting that someone might interpret to mean that you love the guitar, you could have knocked on 800 people's random doors and told them all, with no misunderstanding, that you're one hundred percent behind the success of the guitar. Or better yet, if it's really that important that everyone knows you enjoy the guitar, FUCK YOU. Art would like to think that it's some sort of secret communication device between the intellectual elite, but all it's doing is circling a message through the same group of fags that they're all pissed off. It's a waste of time; you can tell someone you're pissed off with a simple karate chop. Karate attacks or just words about karate attacks are a cleaner and faster means of communication than painting floating eyeballs with your body fluids ever will be. That's what makes this exploding cow so special. It wasn't a visual interpretation of some profound statement. It needed to happen because there are no words that will ever be as rad as filling a cow with dynamite and dropping it from the sky. Unless you're a hypnotist and you say the words, "Take off the Wonder Woman outfit and make out with your twin sister."

[Ahcri]

I thought it was funny, but clearly it was meant to insult me or my kinds. I paint abstract paintings, and I'd like to think that it has meanings. I know that "guitar on fire" and "swirls of colors" bits are pretty lame, and I laughed at that too. But sometimes you can't think like the creator of a certain piece of artwork. For example, I once painted a picture of a suit-wearing man standing in front of a X-ray machine, and on on the screen, there is a tail growing out of his pelvis. It is suppose to mean -and don't laugh- that human are primitive. (That was teenage angst, I'm way over it now). When people sees it, they just say "Hahaha, it looks like my grandfather", or "Fuck you and your painting."

Now, I can't bring myself to defend art, especially abstract art. Because personally, I think it is very hard to emphasize with the artist. He might went through some events in his life that influences him to paint a picture. For me, I won't bitch when people don't understand my paintings anymore. I would like to think that they look pretty, and how they want to interpret it is their own business.

[edible snowman]

i wasnt saying that i dont like abstract paintings. even if i did them, i think i would still find that funny. theres some good aphorism thats says that you should be able to laugh at yourself. or something. anyway explaining it takes most of the fun out of jokes and stuff so im done.

[Red Leader]

Well, I have previously stated my opinion of fine art school (and it's not positive in general, let me tell you)
Back when I lived in Winnipeg, Canada, I had a friend who got his BFA with his final project being a huge illuminated sign that read "Morons" over the review comittee. He got an A.

This same guy later did a work for a gallery which owned a billboard in town. He painted a huge "Chicken crossing" sign, with the words "Lick, lick,lick" over it to show just how fucking stupid modern abstract art can be. I just about wet my pants when I saw it.

The problem I have is..The fact that I nearly wet my pants means that I got a strong reaction from his work. Does this make it real art?

[Mezoic]

i go to a fairly large art school, so i see every type of art there is. with abstract art, even though it doesn't spark much interest in me, i respect that it is very important to those artists, and i do believe it is a form of art.

funny story though. first day of drawing 1, the students are introducing themselves to the class, but this one student had this random statement during his introduction about abstract artists. he basically said he couldn't understand how it is a form of art, it requires no talent, and he could do it in 5 minutes. but guess what are professors main job is besides teaching? abstract art! to tell you the truth, our professor didn't take much of a liking to that student for the rest of the quarter.

[Poprocksz]

Art is like music....
it is in the eye of the beholder.....
Art is a part of you...
a part of what you believe
what you say....what you feel....
the deep inner emotions that can only
expressed in this form.....
Visions of the world as you percieve it...
no-one will ever see what you see in a peice
of art....
Thats what makes it that more personal....
your view of it is yours alone....
That is why art is here....

[Ahcri]

I think with artworks like that "Moron" road sign is just for lighthearted fun. But it sure isn't very original.
I went art gallery hopping every week, I was only disappointed last week by an exhibition of "sculptures". It turns out the artist builts tables and paints the inside of its drawers. It really made me doubt if anyone will come to see MY exhibition when it's up. People would just think it's crap.

[ceenda]

IMHO, I have no problem with people innovating in an abstract way, as long as they have learnt the basics of painting before they do so.

Otherwise, it's just a hoax.

If, however, it's a hoax funded by people's taxes (as it is in the UK), then it becomes fraud.

[jcFIG]

Fine art isn't popular at my school. Fine art students and there teachers here are riduculed by all the other teachers and students because they criticize other majors, namely illustration. Anyways, it's funny, quite silly and immature to see fine art teachers talking smack about other teachers in class, I feel like I'm in grade school. I'm glad I don't hate fine art though because one must approach certian things with an open mind.-I don't love it but I also don't hate it.-I have no opinion on it because it's not something I'm interested in or devote much time to. Also, most of the Fine Art people who've graduated I know have gone to work for Starbucks so what does that tell you.

[Gnome the Juggalo]

I drew a pair of legs once and called it "Half a person'

No one liked it. But I did...

[Steven Stahlberg]

Such a funny topic must be bumped back up!

But seriously, I don't mind abstract art if it's done by an artist that knows the basics, as someone mentioned. I just can't understand the type of art that takes no mental or physical energy whatsoever to create. I'm talking about most modern art, installation art mostly I guess. Modern art exhibitions are full of it, and collectors pay good money for it.
One example: a brick and a blue lightbulb. The artist went out and bought these 2 items for under a dollar, packed them in some styrofoam and a box, with some instructions to the curator how to display them (no stand or podium, just placed on a flat surface). How much creativity and energy went into that? Not to mention all the sanitary plumbing in these exhibitions... that was original back in the 1920's.
I just think stuff like this is a @#%$ insult to every serious artist.

[ August 07, 2001: Message edited by: Steven Stahlberg ]

[Impaler]

Jackson Pollock rocked. On my trip to the NYC Metropolitan Museum of Art, I saw one of Pollock's works first hand. It was amazing. For once, someone was using some mental exhaustion with the whole paint-splat genre.

Some Modern art is sort of cool, like the girl who stitches her brainwaves into a giant weave..

[aquamire]

Art with no motivation but to 'shock' people bothers me a lot. Though I forget the name of the artist, in the early 20th century I believe there was a well accomplished artist who walked into a bar and ripped out one of the urinals. He proceeded to sign his name on it, and called it 'ready-made art'. It was already a masterpiece to him. So he brought it to a gallery. I just think thats funny, and I doubt he was serious about it, as he was already an accomplished painter.

[Ahcri]

Aquamire, are you talking about Duchamp? Yeah, that urinal was a product of his anti-art movement. I think it's suppose to be making fun of people who put a brick and a blue lightbulb together and call it art.

[Red Leader]

Some modern art is quite thought provoking. The stuff that boils my buns is crap like that lightbulb/brick.

When I lived in Winnipeg, at the art gallery someone put on display three tin lunchboxes. Not painted, just three..empty...unpainted...purchased...tin...lunchboxes.

There was a "do not touch" sign in front of them. At first I thought it was a mistake, like maybe this was where the gallery costruction gang parked their lunch. Then i was just sad.

[ August 07, 2001: Message edited by: Red Leader ]

[Ahcri]

I actually made something similar to the lunchbox installation, but I worked long hours for these:
The first one is called "Blue Lasagne", I soaked some newspapers and egg boxes in a water/glue mixture, and I built a 3-dimensional mountain scene with it in a lasagne dish, and then I painted it blue. It kind of looks like leftover lasgane. The idea behind this piece is "World Cuisine".
The second one is still under heavy construction. I'm planning to take 8 cow bones, clean them, and then do something different to each one of them. For example, I'm going to burn one segment of the bone, boil another segment, and bury one in the garden for 2 months. The idea behind it is the same as above.

Are my installations crazy? I just thought I'd do something different. I know it's not exactly thought provoking, but at least I think they look pretty good now.

[Red Leader]

Ahcri.

I think that your stuff sounds interesting. I don't think it's like the lunchboxes at all.

[edible snowman]

it might be cool to carve some kind of symbol in the bone. or convince someone that they are the remains of 8 of your enemies who each met their demise in different ways thanks to your maffia contacts. i burned this one alive, this one i boiled, this guy was burried in my yard for two months until the cops found it. they got nothin' on me.

[Ahcri]

edible snowman: Thanks for the great idea! I actually haven't came up with an excuse to burn them and boil them yet..

[c]

this is an interesting topic, but i think i disagree.

i think we've all gone through a 'realism' phase, where we go and tediously try to make something look as realistic as possible. the more realistic the better.

but say back then someone tried to explain to you the value of less polished but more energetic artwork. stuff that has more life, energy, and character to it. what a load of bologne eh? what's energy got to do with it? either you are good and you can draw exactly what you see or you are gay and spout on about total bullshit.

i don't know about you guys but my perceptions have changed a little.

as for abstraction, well to tell you the truth it's really not my cup of tea. i'll openly admit that i don't 'get it'

but i'll keep my mind open, and instead of thinking far out artwork is stupid i'll just assume that i have a lot more to learn before i can make an opinion.

besides, if art was meaningless, why would we bother?

[ August 07, 2001: Message edited by: c ]

[ August 07, 2001: Message edited by: c ]