Commodity and monetization. Bollocks and bullshit. God and bad. Big space in between. This piece is amazing and pointless at the same time, one may say. I think it is very interesting, unless you read what one of the author has(actually not) to say
Borrowing the effectiveness of billboards to redirect attention away from the landscape… this permanently open aperture between nations works to frame nothing more than a clear view of the changing atmospheric conditions beyond.
I like the ‘interpretation’ from fascodesign(directly under the above quote):
Which sounds nice and poetic and non-threatening, but clearly, this thing is a monument to everything America’s not.
I think that now everyone can say whatever fits their agenda. But still this is the thin border between not only art and architecture, because there’s third party involved which is advertisement. All of them are shouting from that piece, I am not sure if it is about consumers, McShit or other capitalistic conveniences tho. This wouldn’t even be sarcastic whispering. One cannot cut own feeding hand. The last one in this case, the second one is either wanking or on the phone. We all know what I think, if not here’s the tip: this shouts about anything you put into, that’s the beauty of it, like blank canvas, you can paint anything on it. Although my first impression was that this is a typographic experiment gone really bad and all the copy exploded. I was sure this is an ad of some sort. Since it’s not an ad, then what the hell is it? An art? Does it have the famous title Untitled? No, it is even better Non-Sign II. An abstract interpretation of a sign. Anyway, the scarcity and the opulence are quite well balanced and I think that’s it. An abstract that needs no additional abstraction. Well done.
White is a game. White is an art. White is an art of killing in any sense. Brainless and beautiful at the same time. You do not need any skills, you do not need to force yourself to think. This sounds like an ordinary shoot-to-kill game, doesn’t it? Not really the case this time, I am afraid.
Created, apparently, by first-year students at ENJIM, the Graduate School of Games and Interactive Medias in Angoulême, France is as innovative as Little Big Planet. Brings, actually fake, element of creativity. This is what the authors say:
WHITE is the first FPS based on both the player’s violence and creativity. The score only depends on one thing: your talent!
Talent! What talent? One, old prick perhaps, would ask. There’s not talent involved. Since a while there’s completely new category of creativity and we cannot deny it. Having spent almost many eyears working hard to get two MA degrees in arts, (actually creativity) I have been told that there’s such a thing as talent and this is the only way of achieving success in art world. I wasn’t that sure about the fact that one has to born with it. Then I saw Joshua Davies and he really pissed me off. I was educated with quite old school tools and terminology. I was very impressed with Jackson Pollock tho, so Davies’ random shit shouldn’t be a problem. Or I should rather say this new aesthetic category of random digital creation didn’t fit any of my boxes .I was also into actionscript and under huge influence of net.art which was a bit of anarchistic punk culture that grew pretty well on moist and well nutritioned soil of the web. The popularity of random art was a bit too much, or was it the ‘pop’ factor? It seems so now. Net.art is long gone, Joshua Davies drives free BMW and Marian Bantjes took their place. Every whore gets old and useless at some point, I know that from experience and I hope those kids can re-invent ‘action-painting’ on digital canvas. Simply because this fits contemporary need for creative expression. Not impressionistic crap or post-modernistic bullshit. Completely new(or new again) form of self expression that does not require talent, skills, brains, education etc. Sorry but we all deserve it. If any of those ‘-ism’ wankers think otherwise they shouldn’t have raped people’s brains for so long, taking away the right to artistic expression from people. Not that I am suggesting pop-culture winning over high-culture but I think that postmodernism has eaten its own tail already and if there’s no other option we can expect next gen of Salon des Refusés or maybe something that Napolen III has initiated: public judgement. God save us all!
Scott I love you. You are as great as Mr Brainwash. I hope you will make millions selling that stuff.
I love your artworks’ titles too: untitled (two-tires) I am all wet already.
Your body of work is not only unique and honest, it is also a monumental exemplification of the current state of stagnation of human relationships with history of art. So many things are forgotten and misspelled. Your works’ connotations are endless and so deep that anybody that dives into it must drown. It is so pure! I bet you got many questions such as: how did you do it, what was your drive, why did you use white stick not the green one, are you determined to what you find or do you bring your own things, do you design those sculptures before or on the spot, do you like them, what is your favourite piece? Don’t answer them, just make your art! They are dumb.
japanese photographer hiroshi watanabe is exhibiting at the ad gallery, switzerland until 17th october 2009. entitled ‘american leitmotiv’, the exhibition will feature Hiroshi Watanabe’s photos handled and developed by his hand which remind us of the authenticity of traditional drawings.
Well there is nothing wrong with his images. But there is everything wrong with the “rationalization”. I was actually reading about W.Benjamin’s aura in Gernot Böhme’s philosophy book on aesthetics of nature (not translated into English, as far as I am aware). He writes about Bejamin’s theory in context of nature which is not that important now, although it is close. Like fake flowers, the above description reveals shallow aspirations. Plastic roses “remind us of the authenticity of” real ones, so why bother? Authenticity is a muddy ground to step on while talking about photography. Pictorialism was one of those fake roses that somehow rubbed shoulders with authenticity. Steichen and Co. created a movement of fake roses lovers, which would try to transgress the borders of mimesis and establish their own visual language. Which Watabene is nicely following. This doesn’t change the fact that “the authenticity of traditional drawings” is a stab in a back, for both Benjamin and Watanabe. If a technique solely would define the piece of art then it would be an easy business. It does certainly have much to do with how you do it but any resemblance to real characters is never intentional.
‘I go to places that captivate and intrigue me. I am interested in what humans do. I seek to capture people, traditions, and locales that first and foremost are of personal interest. I immerse myself with information on the places prior to leaving, but I try to avoid firm, preconceived ideas. I strive for both calculation and discovery in my work, keeping my mind open for surprises. at times, I envision images I’d like to capture, but when I actually look through the viewfinder, my mind goes blank and I photograph whatever catches my eye. photographs I return with are usually different from my original concepts. my photographs reflect both genuine interest in my subject as well as a respect for the element of serendipity, while other times I seek pure beauty.’– hiroshi watanabe
Not much to add. I should pity those artists that piggy-back preconceived ideas saying that they are trying to avoid them and then… they shoot something that even Stieglitz wouldn’t bother, because “ when I actually look through the viewfinder, my mind goes blank and I photograph whatever catches my eye.”
But I do not pity them. I envy. Because the beholder(or the ever losing curator) is so naive that doesn’t seem to understand that is being pissed on all over by an artist’s whim.
Exhibition of Katharina Fritsch at the deichtorhallen looks like one of those many popular exhibitions by unknown young artists influenced by Apple design and video games. Well she’s got much more experience then just that and that is what makes her approach very unique. She takes what seems to be obvious these days in visual arts: one color painted objects, nostalgic prints and of course umbrellas to communicate. Unlike others, those young rebels, she does say something, she does have something to say and she’s using symbols in a right way, knowing what they actually mean and in what context they make sense. I am not a big fan of all of her works (some are way to close to self satisfactory mambo jumbo) but some are damn good. Maybe because of my photographic background(sic!) I highly admire her that side of her art. Exhaustive photo coverage on design boom
Two years ago, Google sent out an army of hybrid electric automobiles, each one bearing nine cameras on a single pole. Armed with a GPS and three laser range scanners, this fleet of cars began an endless quest to photograph every highway and byway in the free world.
