Although if you did, it would be quite the tasty new spin on Communion, I guess.
Because I know people. Most of them don’t have any sense, common or otherwise.
Gee, you think?
Yes, but its not 30 meters tall. I have to admit, I’m not particularly impressed with this Paul McCarthy guy. Although I remember seeing some of his inflatable art sculptures at Tate, and they are the only things I remember from that visit. They were pretty good. I’m not sure what he’s getting at with Santa holding a buttplug, but it seems to be a common theme in his work.
I bet the people that saw it are still talking about it. I’d guess that it wasn’t one of his better works or even remotely well received, so I don’t know why you think it is somehow indicative of modern art.
Do you have a cite that he didn’t make it himself? I’m sure he had some materials support, but painters don’t make their own paint. It isn’t exactly like an inflatible bouncy castle anyway. It has a steel frame and is on a concrete base. You won’t find that kind of texture in a cheap advertisement balloon. No, you couldn’t do it if you tried. It is one of the common critisism of modern art and it is entirely wrong.
And if you did do it, you seriously think nobody would notice a 30 meter turd. I bet you could even charge a small admision to get people to look at it. Except you can’t really charge admision because it’s too big to fit inside. I guarantee if you make a 30 meter inflatable turd, people are going to start asking what you are going to do next. And if you followed it up with something equally impressive, your freinds will tell their freinds. Pretty soon people will want to see your work.
There is no doubt that reputation is important in the art world. This guy has had an enormous amount of schooling in art. He is familiar with the art world and the art world is familiar with him. He developed a reputation probably from his paintings, then moved on to other things. People started wanting to see his work. They paid to see his work. It is pure capitolism.
This isn’t unique to modern art. One hit wonders come and go usually because they are mediocre talent that got lucky with the right set of notes. If you consistently produce good music then people start buying your music just based on reputation. A mediocre album will still go gold and even have some devout followers. In the seventies, I would say more than a few musicians did the musical equivalent of shoving a barbie up their ass. It wasn’t pretty. Usually drugs were involved. Yet people came back to them when they decided to make music again.
From his own words, I think you’ve got him in a nutshell here. You aren’t alone in thinking that this art isn’t good. Your opinion isn’t wrong, unless your trying to say that you could do it too in which case you are underestimating the amount of work, knowledge and skill involved.
Based on what I have read about him since this thread started, I don’t think I like him that much. On the otherhand, I now know who he is. I also know that I have seen his work before. If a collection of his were to come through town, I would definitely pay to see what else he has done. Before this thread, I wouldn’t have bothered. I do hope he drops the whole Santa holding a buttplug theme. It’s offensive.
Personally, I don’t assume that people, as a whole, have no common sense. I do assume, however, that many people in the “art world” don’t have it. I can find no other explanation as to why a worthless hack like Damien Hirst isn’t begging for nickels on a street corner instead of charging millions of dollars for his “art.”
I dunno if there is any mystery to it - this guy discovered, as most people do as young children, that stuff involving the asshole - shoving things into it, or crapping stuff out - is a guaranteed attention-getter.
Combining that with images of childhood - Santa Clause, Barbie Dolls - just adds to the effect by hightening the viewer’s discomfort (and thus attention).
I certainly could not, myself, make a 30 foot inflatable turd. I don’t know enough about engineering with plastics and the like. But I couldn’t make an electric toaster from scratch, either.
My own art tends to be smaller in scale and more crafts than arts, because I’m a hobbiest, not a professional artist.
Some examples:
- A walking stick (wood, antler):
- A ceramic Pirate Ship:
- A ceramic mirror frame:
- A Mayan forest god (watercolour, found bark):
- A mask design (pen & ink):
What I would look for in art I consider “good” from a professional is some that displays more “work, knowledge and skill” than myself, and not simply greater competence in engineering.
I don’t disagree with your points about publicity; the unhappiness I have over the general level of art displayed at museums and the like is that, for whatever reasons, publicity and name-recognition tend to trump talent, with the result favouring those adept at getting attention (for, say, shoving stuff up their ass in public) over those displaying skill or merit.
I don’t presume my taste is universal. There is art I dislike and art I like. This, hower is totally substanceless to me. It doesn’t even rise to the level of cliche.
I think I didn’t communicate there. The fact that the “artist” though this was a worthwh9ile endouver amuses me. I am totally indifferent to his work.
Shock art is particular disgusts me on a deep, visceral level. It’s the antithesis of art. Art is, to some degree, universal. It may not mean the same thing to all men, it may mystify some, but it communicates something about the world through symbolic representation. The level of symbology varies from style to style. Shock art, however, bears the same relationship as crappy teen slashers do to a real movie. It’s an attempt to blindly stimulate the audience to… something. I find it crudely manipulative, a concept of art for people who fail to even manage bad taste.
Plus, it’s just plain boring. OooOOoh! Watch me make an inflatable Santa with a sex toy! Now I make giant fake feces! Aren’t I cool!?!?!?!?!1!!!1
Well, no. It barely rises to the level of stupid. This is so totally devoid of any value I fundamentally can’t imagine why any human would want to bother. There is bad art, and then there is random childish mess.