Art Appreciation (Funny Bone Results #16)

I am feeling a bit of guilt this week because I have not posted a single time since my caption post on Monday. I try to blog at least once between these. I always hate to make excuses and I am not going to this time either except for one small detail. I am going to make an excuse.

I am down to the last two weeks of my class and I have been subbing more. So, I have been significantly busier this week and I expect the same for next week. I would promise to do better for next week, but I don't want to be a liar.

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On to this week's picture - In Monday's post, I had a small rant about how I just don't appreciate some of the so-called art that is out there. I can appreciate talent even if I don't care for the piece. However, some "art" doesn't require any talent. A white canvas with a red square painted in the corner makes me sick when it is hanging on the wall of a museum. Sorry, they taught me how to do that in kindergarten.

The picture I supplied for the week was not that type of art. It is strange, but required an artist to create it. Here is the picture.

I asked my readers to provide a caption or try to explain the piece, but I gave them no information other than it was in Beijing.

Here is the little bit of info I do have about it. This sculpture is on display outside a cafe in the 798 art zone. The cafe used to be a machine tool factory. I know it's not much, but that all I could find.

Here are the submissions I received:

Addman of Muppets for Justice
 
The effort to teach children about the Tienanmen Square incident went a little off course...

Wily Guy of It's My mind!
 
Say Halo to My Lil Frien...

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

A Beer for the Shower

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. 

Christi
 

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"
 

Sandee at Comedy Plus
 

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

ThePeachy1 of Being Peachy

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

"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 anything!"

Hestia
 

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

Hestia's daughter
 

"Buddha for the modern age"

Stephen Hayes of The Chubby Chatterbox

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

Brandie Boddie of Penning Praises

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.

Red of Doesn't Speak Klingon

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

Rachael of Rachael's Insane Rants and Bizarre Musings

After years of abuse ,that often included being denied bathroom privileges, at the hands of an 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, "Pi$$ on you all!"

Winopants of Wino on a Ramble

"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.

Alex J. Cavanaugh

Thar she blows!

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.

Last Day in Indy: Part 3

You may want to read my last two posts to get up to speed on the events of the last couple of days.

Day 1: Dealers and Winos and Pimps - Oh, My!

Day 2: Dealers and Winos and Pimps Must Sleep In

My last post was written on the morning of the third and last day we were in Indianapolis. The plan was to get our van back that morning, see as much of the city as possible (now that we were mobile) and head back home. However, it did not work out that way.

I called at 9 a.m. to get an estimate of when they thought the vehicle would be done so I could get a cab and head in that direction. He said they were close to having it finished and they provided a free pick up service, so there was no need for a cab. HOORAY!!!

Since they were close to being done and we did not know how far from the car shop we were, we decided not to venture from the hotel. They could call at any time and we had no idea how long it would take them to get there.

The hotel requires checkout at 11 a.m., so we moved to the lobby. Kirsten surfed the web while I read a book. It was hard to relax knowing that every passing minute is another minute that we are NOT out enjoying the city.

The mechanic finally called at 12:30, but said it would take a moment for the driver to get to us, because he had just left for a 30 minute lunch. As soon as he got back, he would be on his way.

After 3 hours of leading me to believe the driver was going to show up at any moment, the driver calls to get the address and tells me it will take 30 minutes to get to us from the shop. He shows up 45 minutes later at 4:15. I learn from him that he was delivering a part out of state and was not on a 30 minute lunch. Had I known that, I would have hopped in a cab and had my vehicle back by 1 p.m. However, due their messing around and trying to cover for each other, we sat in a hotel lobby for 4 hours longer than necessary and missed half a day of exploring the city. We drove away in our van a few minutes before 5 o' clock and $600 poorer.

Finally back with our vehicle, we decided to visit the Indianapolis Children's Museum because one day a month they are open until 8 and it is free during that time. Plus, the other things we wanted to see were closed at this point. This seemed like a good plan at the time, but there were things we had not considered.

This children's museum is ranked as the best in the country by three different children's magazines and it offered free admission for only four hours once a month. This means that it is the most popular place in the state during that time and is the last place you want to be if you actually want to see anything. About 5 blocks from the museum, traffic stopped. In the next 30 minutes, we moved less than a half block. Everyone was trying to get to the museum. At the rate we were moving, we would never make it to the museum parking before it closed. Luckily, a person pulled away from the curb right beside us, so I nabbed that spot and we walked the remaining distance.

The last children's museum I had visited was more of a hands-on science center and it had been several years since I had taken my children. This place, while impressive, was designed for children. By children, I mean 5 to 8 year olds. My daughter is 16. We gave it a go anyway.

They had an Egyptian market for the kids to dress in Egyptian clothes and play like they were working in various jobs, There was a mirrored maze play area, lots of interactive activities and places for parents to sit while their children ran wild. I was most impressed by the LEGO exhibits.

However, what I hadn't considered was the thing I should have been most concerned about. There were children everywhere. Thousands of them. Because of the museum being free at that moment, the entire tri-state area showed up with their kids...and their grandkids...and the neighbor's kids. 

They were screaming and pushing and fighting and crying. It was awful. Parents were yelling for their kids to come back despite not having any idea in which direction they had run off to. Those parents that like to walk their kids on a leash spent their time trying to untangle from other safety minded parents. It was a complete madhouse. It was wall to wall screaming banshees.

Kirsten and I decided that even without the wailing midgets, this was not what we had in mind and decided to leave. Nothing on this trip had gone according to plan and it was time to give up. We vowed to return to Indianapolis on another day. Next time we would plan better.

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For this post I am participating in the Get Fit! Challenge presented by Pish Posh. She is challenging her readers and other bloggers to write about an area in their lives to could stand improvement. Please visit her site.