New at Reason

January 5, 2007

Cheryl Miller studies the fame-making gimmicks of "rebellious" artists.

Comments

Thomas Paine\'s Goiter|1.6.07 @ 1:06PM|#

God knows what would be necessary now.

If an artist wants to offend everyone, they're going to have to use fetuses, shit, racial epithets, school vouchers, and condoms.

Alternatively, they could paint a picture of an explicit and massive orgy involving all of the world's religious icons.

|1.6.07 @ 2:15PM|#

..."Bolshevic [sic] philosophy..."

Ummm, isn't "Bolshevic" or "Bolshevik" a transliteration from Russian? Is spelling not, therefore, optional as long as it conforms to the sound of the word as spoken in the original language.

And even if we have by this date settled on a common English spelling, viz. "Bolshevik", is it not possible to imagine that in 1921 the "correct" spelling was not that established?

|1.6.07 @ 2:33PM|#

Drat!!

Only the first paragraph should be in italics.

|1.6.07 @ 2:52PM|#

A sculpture of Muhammad eating a fetal be-haloed Jesus (torn from the womb of Mary, lying prone nearby) while being buggered by Ganesha, who's simultaneously pooping enormously on Laura Bush, ought to do the trick.

Todd F.|1.6.07 @ 3:34PM|#

I think the lamest piece of "art" I've ever seen was a block of lard which the artist ate from during the exhibit until she was sick, leaving teethmarks on it.

|1.6.07 @ 4:04PM|#

A sculpture of Muhammad eating a fetal be-haloed Jesus (torn from the womb of Mary, lying prone nearby) while being buggered by Ganesha, who's simultaneously pooping enormously on Laura Bush, ought to do the trick.

Go back to your pointless bourgeois existence you mindless conformist!

|1.6.07 @ 7:24PM|#

It is not censorship to refuse to support what you disagree with. It is only censorship when you refuse to allow others to support what you disagree with.

Unfortunately, too many people - especially self-proclaimed artists - confuse the former with the latter, whether mistakenly or willfully. They should be called on it every time that they do.

|1.6.07 @ 8:23PM|#

"Go back to your pointless bourgeois existence you mindless conformist!"

Sorry, i forgot one thing: All the human figures in the scene I described should be in blackface and wearing Che t-shirts.

|1.6.07 @ 10:37PM|#

I've also seen any number of lefties and other infantile whiners equate criticism with censorship. "Waah! You called me on my bullshit! That's censorship! Help, help, I'm being repressed!"

-jcr

|1.7.07 @ 11:21AM|#

On the other hand intelligent satirists have been making a good living mocking these types of artists since probably the 1920s. How is it the "smart-set" that supports these people still can't see the emperor has not clothes? Truly it's a symbiotic relationship - we have certain elites (like the Rockefellers) who apparently feel guilty about the immense wealth they enjoy. By upporting these no-talent "revolutionaries", our elites can feel like they're doing something for social justice, without in any way threatening the existing social order.

|1.7.07 @ 1:34PM|#

God knows what would be necessary now.

Angelina Jolie as the Virgin Mary at Wal-Mart seems to do the trick. Check out the discussion link for the outrage.

|1.7.07 @ 2:10PM|#

Read From Our House to Bauhaus (Tom Wolfe) for his filletting of the architectural equivalent of these bozos.

Here's my definition of art: if there isn't a brushstroke or a carving or anything in that so-called "work of art" that doesn't demonstrate total mastery of the medium, then you're wasting my time. (I realize this throws 99% of so-called art in the trash, but so much the better.)

|1.7.07 @ 5:08PM|#

"Angelina Jolie as the Virgin Mary at Wal-Mart seems to do the trick. Check out the discussion link for the outrage."

Heck, check the comment thread abuse Rod Dreher got for his column at beliefnet announcing that he'd converted from Catholicism to Orthodox.

edna|1.7.07 @ 5:44PM|#

gr: more to the point is wolfe's "the painted word."

|1.7.07 @ 10:01PM|#

How about a weeping Virgin Mary removing her son from the cross, followed by a picture of the empty tomb, and a caption reading "Christ is Risen!" Then a disclaimer: "This isn't post-modern irony; I actually believe this stuff."

Farces Wanna Mo|1.8.07 @ 8:53AM|#

Personally, I use monomania. In these hegemonic times, that kinda JC pose really drives people up a wall to the point where they actually lissen maybe (it is notoriously difficult to get people to lissen). Hope it works as least as well for my band as it did for that guy from The Lyres.

dhex|1.8.07 @ 12:52PM|#

"if there isn't a brushstroke or a carving or anything in that so-called "work of art" that doesn't demonstrate total mastery of the medium, then you're wasting my time."

wow, your time must be incredibly important!