Michael Israel does a painting of an NYFD firefighter on stage.
The silhouette was a great painting. A powerful image, evoking the sacrifice and heroism of the firefighters.
Amazingly well-detailed given the speed at which it was painted, only a few minutes. I really loved it, and when the artist knelt down I thought he was finished with a fine piece of art as the song ended.
Then it started going downhill.
First, we got a filled-in face on the firefighter. Except it’s so blank and generic that it’s not clear why it’s included. Not terrible yet, I just don’t like the decision to add it.
Then the child’s face explains why the firefighter’s face is there - to include this little visage. It’s gone away from a quiet statement of sacrifice to sentimental pandering. It’s not nearly as evocative of 9/11 any more. At that point, I mostly stopped watching. Although the child’s face gets inexplicably weirder by the end. Maybe it’s too hard to tell on Youtube, but something looks really strange around the eyes - I can’t tell if that’s shadow or wide-eyed fear.
Sorry, I just find it unappealing at the end. It’s an impressive achievement for a painter to do like that, but I really think it went from excellent to uninteresting (and possibly not even good) too quickly.
Wow, what an embarrassing tool!
Agree with everything here. Great art is knowing when to quit. That was pure stinky cheese at the end.
Funny, I heard that same comment once in the back seat of a '67 Valiant.
The faces are so weird, off-putting, and kind of scary that it almost works as a sci-fi painting or something. That baby looks like some sort of Guernica mutant.
wrong account
It was a nice piece of performance art. As a finished painting, though, not so much. Stopping at the silhouette would have helped a great deal.
Different music would have helped even more. Thank God for “Mute” buttons.
Big time. I suspect that the irony of pretending to be a rock star while blaring Marc Anthony is lost on this guy.
I have to agree. I also have to admit I thought the spot where he knelt down was the end. I bailed out at that point. I had to go back and watch the rest. You’re all right. The last bit was lame. :smack:
I thought it was amazing. Those who can do better, upload your file and link it.
I agree; had he stopped at the silhouette it would have been pretty good, but it just got worse and worse the more detail he added.
And the music…urrgghhh. Is it just me, or is there something slightly insulting to, well, pretty much every other country, when you belt out a line like “…America, where at least I know I’m free!”. I’m grumpy and headachy today, so it might just be my mood!
There’s pride and respect for your country and your servicemen (army, firefighters, whatever) but at one point it just becomes… creepy. The painted faces and the glurgy music crossed that line for me.
On edit: ok, that sounds worse than I mean it… I guess I thought what could have been a very interesting piece of performance art (the rotating canvas, the rapid application of the paint) became something overly … political? It felt weird at the end.
I didn’t realize I had to be able to paint in order to have an opinion about a painting.
Millions of artists could do better, and with less prancing about like an idiot while doing so.
I’m always hated that Lee Greenwood song. It’s such a cramped version of what makes America great. As the Pledge of Allegiance says “… with liberty and **justice ** for all.” Any country where you can lose everything and be forced to start over from scratch is not a land of justice or fairness. Give me Woody Guthrie any day:
“This land is your land, this land is my land,
From California, to the New York Island,
From the redwood forest, to the gulf stream waters,
This land was made for you and me!”
And I agree, he should have stopped at the silhouette.
I enjoyed it, music and all. Michael Israel puts on a hokey, beefcake-enriched, lowbrow Vegas-style performance. The jumping and paintbrush-slogging and canvas-spinning stuff is exciting and crowd-pleasing. This ain’t the Louvre. This is a show. For those who like this sort of thing, this is the sort of thing they like.
I’m on VC03’s side on this one .
Rolf Harris, all is forgiven. Can you see what it is yet?
I think his painting would’ve turned out better if he’d quit jumping around all over the place and turn on some lights so he can see what he’s doing.
Also agree with panamajack that the silhouette alone was a much stronger image. In the finished work, the fireman’s hand is about 1/2 as big as it should be, his features are weak and the kid looks like Gollum.
But the comments on the video are nice - hey, if it moves people, then more power to him.
I hate that song.
And Lib, I do draw people about that quickly. Haven’t shot a video of the process yet, that’s a great idea.