Monday, February 18, 2013

Test Your Funny Bone #16

I love art. I enjoy going to museums and admiring the talent of the people who create the pieces on display. Whether it is paintings, sculptures, glass blowing, whatever. I just love looking at the creativity. Plus, I love learning and am happy to read about the artists and what inspired them to create a particular piece. However, despite all this, I have to admit that this doesn't mean that I always 'get it.'

The Mona Lisa, despite being a boring piece to look at, is obviously art and took talent to create, but not all things that are considered art require any talent at all. I was at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City a few years ago and there was an entire floor dedicated to the art of one particular artist. As soon as we walked in, I noticed the naked man and woman standing in the corner facing each other. That was one piece of her art.

There was video footage playing of a woman holding a loaf of bread over a human skull. Nothing happened, she just stood there. In another room, there was a naked woman lying on a table with a skeleton lying on top of her. This was an actual woman, not a sculpture. According to the placard, it was supposed to represent how we should learn to embrace our own mortality. Another piece was an old woman and young girl sitting back to back with their hair tied together.

I'm sorry. I just don't get it and I really don't understand why people give her money to do this. I could do this. Much of what people call art is nothing and I just don't understand the obsession with it. I feel like I need to find a way to cash in on this, but I don't think I am pretentious enough. I don't believe I would want to hang around with all those art snobs anyway.

Sometimes, I may not 'get' a piece I am looking at, but can at least respect the talent that went into its creation. There is some strange stuff out there, and some of it is derived from incredible talent, while other stuff is not. I am not just saying this about pieces I don't like. It doesn't take talent to put broken glass on a newspaper and say that it represents urban decay. (I've actually seen this.) Some of those 'artists' just know how to play the game to make some money. Other artists are incredibly talented, but work in strange ways (butter carving, painting with penis, using blood as paint, etc). Despite any of this, I am obviously not cultured enough to be a part of the art world. Plus, I believe being successful as an artist involves schmoozing a lot of people at showings and I just can't tolerate most people that long.

One of the things that I have discovered is that a lot of art isn't so much about the talent poured into it as it is about the message that it is trying to portray. This is what brings us to our picture for the week.


This statue portraying a baby on a tank can be found in Beijing, China. Here is what I would like you to do. In the comment section, share your interpretation of this piece of artwork. There was definitely talent involved in creating this piece, but what was the artist trying to say?

Is it commemorating a particular event?
Is it speaking out against some social injustice?
Is it trying to raise awareness about a certain cause?

Leave your interpretation of this sculpture in the comment section and I will post all of your answers on Friday. As usual, this is not a serious exercise and I challenge you to make us laugh.

26 comments:

  1. The effort to teach children about the Tienanmen Square incident went a little off course...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Say Halo to My Lil Frien...

    Or perhaps

    Not what she was expecting to see at the first diaper change.

    ReplyDelete
  3. As a professional artist, I think it's a satirical comment regarding neoclassical existentialism and its effect on postmodern humanism. LOL JK it's just a baby with a cock cannon.

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  4. The artist was a 40 year old virgin and his inner child was tired of being repressed. One night after night after getting highly intoxicated he commissioned this piece. The inscription reads "Suck it world"

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  5. I think he's just trying to take a dump. That's what I think.

    Have a fabulous day. ☺

    ReplyDelete
  6. without reading anything I could tell the geographical location, as an art lover myself, I get what you are saying, I also appreciate so much more even when I don't get. Sometimes the absolute best thing you can do is to laugh. Art is meant to evoke your own interpretation. Which is exactly what we are doing here. For that I will now call you the curator. and now...

    " Don't act like no one told you YOUR life would REVOLVE around me, get your a$$ up and feed me!"

    or

    "After finally and completely understanding the phallic stereo types, the entire male population of this country spent endless hours to create this commissioned piece that screams, "we are not over compensating for anyring! "

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Plenty of art causes me to laugh…or be confused. Although, I have learned that most museums do not welcome laughter while looking at the art. Especially when the creator is still there for the unveiling.

      Delete
  7. my artistic daughter says "Buddha for the modern age"

    I think it resembles Chairman Mao and probably is meant to portray "Our children are born on the backs of communism."

    Hestia

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  8. "Sitting on a tank just isn't curing my hemorrhoids. I think I'll go back to using Preparation H.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hmm, I don't know. Let's ask that baby from Family Guy. Seems like something he'd commission. Or maybe that was the artist's inspiration.

    ReplyDelete
  10. "Are Chinese babies getting fatter, or is that just a teeny-tiny tank due to budget cuts?"

    but really it's doubly phallic...you see the blow-up-doll style mouth there above the dildo-tank, right? No? Just me?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wow! There's a twisted side of you that I haven't seen before.

      Delete
    2. ...is "peda-phallic" a word? Lock up your little ones, China!

      Delete
  11. After years of abuse ,that often included being denied bathroom privileges, at the hands of a over-oppressive military father, the artist became disillusioned with the world. The baby represents his self as an angry child and the tank represents his now empowered self.
    The expression on the baby's face is clearly saying, "Piss on you all!"

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  12. "Baby penis go BOOM!"

    I think the artist is trying to say that dictators need to wave their military might around to compensate for their fragile egos and tiny pee pees

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  13. That image with the guy staring into the blank portraits, I can't take it seriously anymore.

    Too often people take the white backgrounds and photoshop buttholes on them. ._.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've seen ALMOST blank canvases in museums. I remember one large white canvas with a small red triangle painted in one corner. They called it minimalist. I call it a con job.

      Delete
  14. Hey Brett. Just stopping by to make sure I follow for A to Z. Nice to meet you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you. I've been trying to get prepped for it.

      Delete
  15. Thar she blows!
    And most modern art I just don't get...

    ReplyDelete
  16. Aw man, everything I thought of was a little too vulgar to post, shame on me.

    Although looking at Red's comment...

    :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I think Red took the perv award with this one.

      Delete
  17. Brett, I think you'd really like the documentary "Exit Through the Gift Shop"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you. I have heard of it. I guess I will need to check it out.

      Delete

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