Tag: modern art

‘But Is It Art?’ (2017)

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

Image result for images of a pineapple

Remember this? A couple of students buy a pineapple at the supermarket and gull the art museum authorities into displaying it as a work of art.

But Is It Art?

Art has been in trouble for a very long time. Oh, you can still find gifted artists. But all the headlines seem to go to the crapola-meisters. And most of the money, too. I knew a high school art teacher whose art was positively gorgeous–and original, too. She was lucky to have the job she had. No way any of her work was going to make it into a museum.

*Sigh*

‘But Is It Art?’ (2017)

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

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One thing you can hardly help learning from a study of art history: what passes for art today is pure crapola.

Here’s proof (if any were needed).

But Is It Art?

In the Age of Nothing Works, why should we expect the arts to fare any better than the rest of our poor, wretched, failing civilization? It’s too bad: there are still great artists out there. But you won’t find them in the art galleries, selling pretentious twaddle to airheads with more money than they need.

An Archaeological Enigma

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

This little figurine, as reported by Yosef Garfinkel in the Fall 2020 issue of Biblical Archaeological Review, was found in Israel, dates from sometime around 900 B.C., and may represent the face of God, Yahweh. Or at least some god.

Let’s rewind back to the Ice Age and look at, oh, just one cave painting, supposedly produced by primitive cave men.

What the Lascaux Cave Paintings Tell Us About the Nature of Human ...

Given some thousands of years in which to practice art, and improve one’s artistic skills, why does this Iron Age clay figurine look like a five-year-old did it?  (Okay, I want to make an eye: blob of clay, and poke a hole in it. Eat your heart out, Michelangelo.) And scholars think such clumsy figurines were actually meant to be worshiped. Good grief.

Did Iron Age artists in Israel and Judah truly not understand that the stuff they were creating was junk? Did they not know what a sculpture ought to look like? Did they pat themselves on the back when they were done throwing clay into crude and awkward shapes? Why wasn’t art in the Iron Age light-years better than art in the Stone Age? I mean, the people who produced this childish rubbish lived in cities and wore clothes and had domesticated animals, etc., etc. Why was their art so childish?

Then again, look at some of the so-called art that’s been pitched to us in our lifetime…

But Is It Art?

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

Image result for images of a pineapple

Thanks to Linda for this priceless news tip.

Two students bought a pineapple at the supermarket and left it on an empty display case at a modern art exhibit at Robert Gordon University, Scotland. As they expected, the pineapple was mistaken for a work of art and placed inside the display case for everyone to admire (https://fellowshipoftheminds.com/2017/05/09/tuesday-funny-pineapple-left-behind-by-students-mistaken-for-modern-art/).

An exhibit official denies that they were taken in by the prank; but I think the joke’s on them. And on the world of modern art in general.

This reminds me of an experience I had when I was studying art in college.

I stayed behind one day to help the art instructor clean out his classroom. Up on top of a row of closets, I found some pieces of twisted fiberglass.

“Where do you want me to toss these?” I asked.

He laughed. “No, no, no! Don’t toss them anywhere!” Those, he explained, were his sculptures, which he was scheduled to display at such-and-such a time at such-and-such a place.

“You’re kidding,” I said. “These are just junk.”

He laughed some more. “You know it’s junk, and I know it’s junk,” he said, “but the people at the gallery say it’s art and they’re going to exhibit it. If I’m lucky, they’ll sell it to someone who’s an even bigger numbskull.”

And there you have it–culture rot, circa 1969.

Big-time “art” has been in serious trouble for at least that long.