# No, Mr. NY Times art critic...a dildo up your butt is NOT art **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 18, 2012, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-mr-ny-times-art-critic-a-dildo-up-your-butt-is-not-art/631892 "2012-08-18T18:51:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2012, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-mr-ny-times-art-critic-a-dildo-up-your-butt-is-not-art/631892/41 "2012-08-18T22:13:57Z")
This is definitely modern art where we _don’t_ need the “My three year old could do that better” ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2012, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-mr-ny-times-art-critic-a-dildo-up-your-butt-is-not-art/631892/42 "2012-08-18T22:14:20Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > Yes, that’s right—stick a dildo up your butt, add a bit for the foot fetishists in the audience, and proudly call it a “dance moment”. > It happened in Manhattan, so it **has** to be art , right? Others have pointed out already that you have misunderstood the rest of the article, but even the brief passage you quoted doesn’t say what you claim it does. “The only dance moment of note occurred when, side by side, each held a balance on one foot while using the sole of the raised foot to hold the dildo in place” is obviously the writer snarking on this performance. He’s saying that this section of the performance barely even qualifies as “dance” because the most impressive dance step it included was standing on one foot. FWIW this performance didn’t take place in Manhattan either – the article says it was in Brooklyn. > [@chappachula](#): > > that’s my whole point—that fact that he included it at all means that he thinks that the basic idea is okay, it’s just that this specific interpretation wasn’t quite as effective as the artists intended. The writer is obviously okay with the basic idea of nakedness in dance, and if you aren’t then the title of the article should have given you enough information to know to avoid it. But his description of “Pâquerette” makes it clear that he doesn’t think it was a performance piece that fell a little short of perfection but rather that he found it to be pretentious and silly. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2012, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-mr-ny-times-art-critic-a-dildo-up-your-butt-is-not-art/631892/43 "2012-08-18T22:18:59Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Let’s not squabble. Tip of the hat to Czarcasm. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2012, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-mr-ny-times-art-critic-a-dildo-up-your-butt-is-not-art/631892/44 "2012-08-18T22:44:21Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > At least he didn’t shove a nutcracker up his ass. It would have been cool if they had, and it was with those really big ones, and then had “artistic assistants” work the handle back and forth to “crack the nuts”. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2012, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-mr-ny-times-art-critic-a-dildo-up-your-butt-is-not-art/631892/45 "2012-08-18T23:06:45Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > In other words, compared to other experimental nude shows he was _not_ impressed. He only included it to show the bad with the good. This got my attention. Two performers were sodomizing themselves with dildos on stage and the critical response is a blase “eh, it’s been done”? Clearly the NY art world is even stranger than I had imagined. So I read the article and you’re right. Macaulay’s point is that nakedness in performance art has become common place and artists can no longer use it for mere shock value. Nudity is now the moral equivalent of the color green - it’s not inherently good or bad, it’s just an element that can work or not work in the overall piece depending on how it’s used. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2012, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-mr-ny-times-art-critic-a-dildo-up-your-butt-is-not-art/631892/46 "2012-08-18T23:14:31Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > Pffft. And risk a head injury? That would take an awfully big dong to risk injuring my head. I’m not a snob; I sit in the cheap seats. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2012, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-mr-ny-times-art-critic-a-dildo-up-your-butt-is-not-art/631892/47 "2012-08-18T23:28:49Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Rockwell was not an artist; he was an illustrator. You actually said that without a trace of irony. Perfect. Just wonderful. You get the award for the day. You are officially the Most Clichéd Art Snob. Now, for the Grand Prix, tell us all how some complete unknown is the next Warhol. (It’s that or you’re an utter failure at communicating using the English language.) ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2012, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-mr-ny-times-art-critic-a-dildo-up-your-butt-is-not-art/631892/48 "2012-08-18T23:29:53Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > If I have to pick between watching NASCAR or a bunch of dancers shove dildos up their asses I don’t know which I would choose. The dildo shovers seem far more interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2012, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-mr-ny-times-art-critic-a-dildo-up-your-butt-is-not-art/631892/49 "2012-08-18T23:31:10Z")
> [@Yookeroo](#): > > The dildo shovers seem far more interesting. At least the dildos might make right turns depending on how they’re laying and what their internal anatomy can teach us about over-indulgence. ---
**Author:** ![Beastly\_Rotter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@Beastly\_Rotter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beastly_Rotter)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2012, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-mr-ny-times-art-critic-a-dildo-up-your-butt-is-not-art/631892/50 "2012-08-18T23:33:09Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > It isn’t hard to guess how these types of modern (rather postmodern) art critics would react to most types of popular culture. :: pinches **Qin Shi** ’s adorable little cheek :: ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2012, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-mr-ny-times-art-critic-a-dildo-up-your-butt-is-not-art/631892/51 "2012-08-18T23:51:14Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > It isn’t hard to guess how these types of modern (rather postmodern) art critics would react to most types of popular culture. You’re right, it’s not hard to guess. Warhol is the postmodern artist par excellence. He is largely responsible for dragging prefab objects _into_ high art and has duly been given the credit by the postmodern critical establishment. The postmodern in art is obsessed with deconstructing and reconstructing popular culture. You’re a melted Dali clock. ---
**Author:** ![Beastly\_Rotter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@Beastly\_Rotter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beastly_Rotter)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2012, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-mr-ny-times-art-critic-a-dildo-up-your-butt-is-not-art/631892/52 "2012-08-18T23:55:55Z")
> [@Maeglin](#): > > He is largely responsible for dragging prefab objects _into_ high art and has duly been given the credit by the postmodern critical establishment. If you don’t count Duchamp. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2012, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-mr-ny-times-art-critic-a-dildo-up-your-butt-is-not-art/631892/53 "2012-08-18T23:59:46Z")
> [@Beastly\_Rotter](#): > > If you don’t count Duchamp. I did say largely and not completely. Anyway, Duchamp has a nice French name so of course (post?)modern art snobs love him. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2012, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-mr-ny-times-art-critic-a-dildo-up-your-butt-is-not-art/631892/54 "2012-08-19T00:03:33Z")
[This](http://www.revistacodigo.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Arte_Claire-Fontaine_8.jpg) is the legacy of Duchamp and Warhol. Fontaine’s Dildo Washer. [You don’t have to take my word for it.](http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2010-08-05/culture/claire-fontaine-economies-at-moca-tennis-balls-dildos-and-rotating-plants-help-us-view-our-world-anew/) ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2012, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-mr-ny-times-art-critic-a-dildo-up-your-butt-is-not-art/631892/55 "2012-08-19T00:04:18Z")
both this and Nascar involve handling stick and fancy footwork; not so different. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2012, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-mr-ny-times-art-critic-a-dildo-up-your-butt-is-not-art/631892/56 "2012-08-19T00:13:30Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > If I have to pick between watching NASCAR or a bunch of dancers shove dildos up their asses I don’t know which I would choose. Sounds like the dildo thing only lasted ten minutes: NASCAR they drive around all damn day. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2012, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-mr-ny-times-art-critic-a-dildo-up-your-butt-is-not-art/631892/57 "2012-08-19T01:30:40Z")
What if I want to listen to Country music and watch Nascar whilst having a dildo shoved up my arse? Won’t someone think of the… well, whatever the word for that particular combination is. And no, I’m not going to Google it. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2012, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-mr-ny-times-art-critic-a-dildo-up-your-butt-is-not-art/631892/58 "2012-08-19T01:33:05Z")
> [@Steophan](#): > > What if I want to listen to Country music and watch Nascar whilst having a dildo shoved up my arse? Won’t someone think of the… well, whatever the word for that particular combination is. > And no, I’m not going to Google it. If you spell “ass” as “arse”, you don’t watch NASCAR nor listen to country music. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2012, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-mr-ny-times-art-critic-a-dildo-up-your-butt-is-not-art/631892/59 "2012-08-19T01:42:36Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > Go to a country music show in Nashville. Go to a Baptist church in Little Rock, Arkansas. Go to a Nascar race. Go to a high school basketball game in Indiana. Go watch the Super Bowl. Go to frickin’ Las Vegas, or Hollywood . I’d rather spend several hours watching pretentious hacks shove dildos up their asses than do any of those things. NASCAR? Seriously? Incidentally, I think Norman Rockwell was a genius. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2012, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-mr-ny-times-art-critic-a-dildo-up-your-butt-is-not-art/631892/60 "2012-08-19T01:57:08Z")
He was poassibly a genius as an illustrator and a commercial artist, and perhaps as a propagandist. I don’t really consider him a genius as an artist. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-mr-ny-times-art-critic-a-dildo-up-your-butt-is-not-art/631892.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-mr-ny-times-art-critic-a-dildo-up-your-butt-is-not-art/631892.md?page=4)