Is it just me? Or are some things passing for art getting more and more gross!
When Art Really Stinks
One can tell when a culture is in social breakdown when the arts reflect the repulsive. Consider our humor. Instead of using it to uplift each other, how often is it just plain ridicule, designed to tear people down. Sex is reduced to nothing but pornography. Even t.v. programs have become clandestine commercials, with plugs for products written into the plot line. If it is graceless, classless and just plain vulgar some folks will be drawn to it. We have become all about pushing limits for pushing limits sake.
One of the most inane art displays I ever saw was in Sacramento, Ca (a place that could win awards in graceless and vulgar!) The California State Fair has an art competition every year, and one year the winner was a giant collage of dog poop. I consoled myself with the thought that my backyard at the time wasn't a health hazard, it was an art gallery. And hey, it can go from still life to wearable art in the blink of a misplaced step! It also helped me to make sense of why some dogs take forever, circle around for centuries, and are so darn fussy about where they go. They can't just drop those loads anywhere. We are talking about art here, and exact placement matters.
Still, what a ridiculous concept. What were they shooting for? Maplethorpe lite? Of course, more reminders of animal droppings is what any state fair needs anyway. I know I enjoy holding my nose all the way through the livestock exhibits only to go to the art building to find turds in their full glory all over the wall. Literally, just what type of crap were they trying to pull?
I understand that true artists need to be a little edgy. We can't have the most creative among us stifle their souls by mindlessly painting away at endless bowls of fruit. But is the staving off of ennui with PEW WEE really necessary?????????
The art world may have its neo classical and pre Raphaelite, but post digestive is a category that could stand elimination!
Dog poop as art! Way way too messy a proposition for me!