# Now That's Crappy Art.... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 12, 2008, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-thats-crappy-art/459730 "2008-08-12T13:51:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-thats-crappy-art/459730/1 "2008-08-12T13:51:44Z")
[Giant dog turd wreaks havoc at Swiss museum](http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/aug/12/3): > [@](#): > > A giant inflatable dog turd created by the American artist Paul McCarthy was blown from its moorings at a Swiss museum, bringing down a power line and breaking a window before landing in the grounds of a children’s home… Ever get the feeling that a lot of modern “artists” are The Emperor’s New Tailors? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-thats-crappy-art/459730/2 "2008-08-12T16:46:19Z")
[QUOTE=Steve MB] Ever get the feeling that a lot of modern “artists” are The Emperor’s New Tailors? [/QUOTE] Fuck. I get why people say this about abstract art, or found art, even though I don’t agree with it. But we’re talking about a strictly representational piece here, and one that clearly took some effort to construct. And someone _still_ breaks out the tired old “Emperor’s New Clothes” canard. What is it with you people? ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-thats-crappy-art/459730/3 "2008-08-12T16:49:34Z")
[QUOTE=Miller] Fuck. I get why people say this about abstract art, or found art, even though I don’t agree with it. But we’re talking about a strictly representational piece here, and one that clearly took some effort to construct. And someone _still_ breaks out the tired old “Emperor’s New Clothes” canard. What is it with you people? [/QUOTE] Because inflatable dog crap, while amusing on some level, really doesn’t communicate anything intelligible to me? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-thats-crappy-art/459730/4 "2008-08-12T16:58:47Z")
[QUOTE=Miller] What is it with you people? [/QUOTE] Why don’t you just admit that 90% of art, just like everything else in the world, is shit? This example is even conveniently labeled as such. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-thats-crappy-art/459730/5 "2008-08-12T17:01:01Z")
[QUOTE=smiling bandit] Because inflatable dog crap, while amusing on some level, really doesn’t communicate anything intelligible to me? [/QUOTE] If it amused you, it would appear to be communicating something, wouldn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-thats-crappy-art/459730/6 "2008-08-12T17:04:07Z")
[QUOTE=Miller] If it amused you, it would appear to be communicating something, wouldn’t it? [/QUOTE] Same is true of the inflatable Ronald McDonald characters they once had floating over McD’s when I was a kid. Though I was more scared of them than amused by them. ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-thats-crappy-art/459730/7 "2008-08-12T17:06:00Z")
[QUOTE=smiling bandit] Because inflatable dog crap, while amusing on some level, really doesn’t communicate anything intelligible **to me**? [/QUOTE] Bolding mine. I’ve seen plenty of art that I didn’t really like, but I would never presume my tastes to be universal. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-thats-crappy-art/459730/8 "2008-08-12T17:14:16Z")
[QUOTE=Miller] What is it with you people? [/QUOTE] I guess some of us people lack the refinement to understand the artistic subtleties this artist brings to inflatable works such as his [“Santa Claus With a Buttplug”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_McCarthy). :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-thats-crappy-art/459730/9 "2008-08-12T17:19:36Z")
[QUOTE=Steve MB] I guess some of us people lack the refinement to understand the artistic subtleties this artist brings to inflatable works such as his [“Santa Claus With a Buttplug”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_McCarthy). :rolleyes: [/QUOTE] His inflatable works are fun, but personally I liked “Class Fool” better: > [@](#): > > An example of this is his 1976 piece Class Fool, where McCarthy threw himself around a ketchup spattered classroom at the University of California, San Diego until dazed and injured. He then vomited several times and inserted a Barbie doll into his rectum. Pure genius. 😃 If they ever need the Sistine Chapel redone, they should use some video stills from this performance. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-thats-crappy-art/459730/10 "2008-08-12T18:17:11Z")
[QUOTE=Steve MB] I guess some of us people lack the refinement to understand the artistic subtleties this artist brings to inflatable works such as his [“Santa Claus With a Buttplug”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_McCarthy). :rolleyes: [/QUOTE] Who said anything about subtle? Who said anything about refinement? ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-thats-crappy-art/459730/11 "2008-08-12T18:21:43Z")
[QUOTE=smiling bandit] Because inflatable dog crap, while amusing on some level, really doesn’t communicate anything intelligible to me? [/QUOTE] What do you mean by “communicate anything intelligible”? Let’s take a well-known series of paintings (presumably qualifying as art with merit), Monet’s Water Lilies. What intelligible thing do they communicate? ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-thats-crappy-art/459730/12 "2008-08-12T18:26:33Z")
[QUOTE=Malthus] His inflatable works are fun, but personally I liked “Class Fool” better: Pure genius. 😃 If they ever need the Sistine Chapel redone, they should use some video stills from this performance. [/QUOTE] I think I took that college class too…but my guy was some furiner who talked and dressed funny and was teaching some math thingy…and I think he used mustard. Alas, if only he too had used ketchup…then maybe it would have been more meaningful… Blll ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-thats-crappy-art/459730/13 "2008-08-12T18:31:24Z")
[QUOTE=billfish678] I think I took that college class too…but my guy was some furiner who talked and dressed funny and was teaching some math thingy…and I think he used mustard. Alas, if only he too had used ketchup…then maybe it would have been more meaningful… Blll [/QUOTE] As long as he has the Barbie doll insertion correct, it is all golden. ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-thats-crappy-art/459730/14 "2008-08-12T18:54:44Z")
Well i can’t say that a gigantic inflatable dog turd is the best example of modern art, it amuses me enough that I like it. Generally if it makes me giggle on some level then I like it. I don’t know if I’m always interpereting things the way the artist wants me to, but I don’t care. Of course some art is just concept art, which isn’t amusing the way this dog turd is, but is also very good. The guy I like best is Cosimo Cavallaro. I found out about him because for a while he was just covering things with cheese which inspired me to paint my peanut butter and jelly Mona Lisa. I’m by no means a painter or an artist, but I had a blast doing it. I’ll never understand why the fundies were so upset with the chocolate Jesus. Chocolate is a sweet and positive experience for most people, and it wasn’t meant to be eaten. On the otherhand, sometimes it seems like art is being made just to piss people off and be edgy, and that I’m not a fan of. Painting the virgin Mary in elephant dung doesn’t seem to accomplish anything positive unless I’m not getting it. Even if there is a point being made, you can hardly expect that it wont be offensive in the US. I don’t get Santa with a Butt Plug either. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-thats-crappy-art/459730/15 "2008-08-12T19:09:33Z")
> [@](#): > > I’ll never understand why the fundies were so upset with the chocolate Jesus. Chocolate is a sweet and positive experience for most people, and it wasn’t meant to be eaten. I knew a group of pagans who made a Chocolate Moose for one of their ceremonies. And they DID eat it. (Yes, I wrote that correctly. And they knew _exactly_ what they were doing. Chocolate Moose. They also used to follow up the litant line “Let us Ever Remember and Never Forget…” with the response: “…An Elephant’s Faithful, 100%” They were a fun and weird bunch.) ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-thats-crappy-art/459730/16 "2008-08-12T19:52:13Z")
[QUOTE=Malthus] Pure genius. 😃 If they ever need the Sistine Chapel redone, they should use some video stills from this performance. [/QUOTE] Comedian/artist Natalie Gray [already did it](http://nataliegray.com/AL/mural.htm) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-thats-crappy-art/459730/17 "2008-08-12T19:58:40Z")
> [@](#): > > Comedian/artist Natalie Gray already did it If you’re looking for life-size reproductions of the Sistine Chapel, it was done before her – they did a full-scale one for the motion picture **The Agony and the Ecstacy** , Irving Stone’s bio of Michaelangelo. But, of course, that one, like this other one, were done “straight” Maybe you can get XKCD to do a stick-figure mural of the Sistine Chapel. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-thats-crappy-art/459730/18 "2008-08-12T20:08:27Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] But, of course, that one, like this other one, were done “straight”. [/QUOTE] i.e. with Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-thats-crappy-art/459730/19 "2008-08-12T20:24:55Z")
[QUOTE=WarmNPrickly] On the otherhand, sometimes it seems like art is being made just to piss people off and be edgy, and that I’m not a fan of. Painting the virgin Mary in elephant dung doesn’t seem to accomplish anything positive unless I’m not getting it. Even if there is a point being made, you can hardly expect that it wont be offensive in the US. I don’t get Santa with a Butt Plug either. [/QUOTE] There was a thread here awhile ago about a Yale art student who had a gallery consisting of footage of her expelling what she claimed were 7 or so miscarried embryos and the resulting blood rolled up in saran wrap. Anyway, someone in that thread said something to the effect of, “Artists are always trying to evoke emotions of disgust and anger. But those are easy emotions to evoke. I wanna see some of these edgy artists try for some more difficult feelings.” I agree with this viewpoint immensely. ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-thats-crappy-art/459730/20 "2008-08-12T20:41:02Z")
[QUOTE=Inner Stickler] There was a thread here awhile ago about a Yale art student who had a gallery consisting of footage of her expelling what she claimed were 7 or so miscarried embryos and the resulting blood rolled up in saran wrap. [/QUOTE] Yea, I don’t get that either. Of course if you think about it, it pretty obviously wasn’t what she said it was. If she was able to reasonably convince everybody that was what it was, then it certainly takes talent, but it is talent used in a deliberately ofensive way. That reminds me of the guy who was displaying six jars of what he claimed was LSD. The police came and impounded them. I was a little too young at the time to realize that there is no way he actually had six jars of LSD. The whole point was the emotional response that looking at three jars of LSD gives you. It’s even funnier that the police didn’t get it either. Unfortunately, they ruined the effect. I can’t unfortunately find a reference to that incident to confirm or deny that he actually had LSD in those jars. For all I know, he’s in prison right now. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-thats-crappy-art/459730.md?page=2)