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peter bagge goes after the art world with a pair of nunchucks
Post #349 • August 19, 2004, 6:43 AM • 10 Comments
Actually, that kind of says it all. For Reason: "Real" "Art34, or, Mr. Grumpy Goes to an Art Museum and Comes Out Belaboring the Obvious.
From Bagge's site:
The August Issue of REASON Magazine will feature yet another 4 page comic strip by me, in which I op-ed my philistine head off as to why I think modern art is stoopid. As I'm sure you could imagine, I don't make a single observation that hasn't already been said a million times already, but I wanted to say it all again anyway, as well as draw funny pictures to illustrate my petty and vindictive points. So there!
In the process he lands some good ones.
(Thanks Davee.)
2.
August 19, 2004, 8:54 PM
Great post. Hilarious and very true, especially the whole artist as other species thing.
3.
August 19, 2004, 10:37 PM
Good stuff, Franklin. I hope you keep spotting this kind of thing. Dave Barry should be due for another zinger. At least I hope so.
4.
August 19, 2004, 11:33 PM
Wiley: His argument for current industrial design is the PT Cruiser? Eyuuuch.
Otherwise, fun read.
Not all that bad, but try this one on for size:
"And now there are all these heavily funded Shakespeare companies currently plaguing the nation. Heaven forbid a single community should live without the Bard's hokey, unintelligible 400-yr-old situation comedies!"
[** shaking my head despondently **]
5.
August 20, 2004, 12:16 AM
I thought the pinnacle of industrial design was Phillipe Starcke's stainless-steel, one-piece citrus juicer, which looks like a goosed spider and which sprays the selected juice all over the kitchen. But what does a functionalist fool like me know about pomo deezign?
Sigh,
JdB
6.
August 20, 2004, 7:10 AM
The nunchaku is a blunt weapon. Me, I think the PT Cruiser looks like a melted hearse, and I really can't get down with the idea of showing Gacy's paintings. Still, I think Bagge's rendition of Mapplethorpe's work is worth the entire piece.
7.
August 20, 2004, 4:16 PM
My take on Bagge's reference to someone wanting to show Gacy's work was that he was being sarcastic - presenting another example of poor reasoning.
Again, there is no substitute for reason - chances need to be taken, but sometimes these risks will not pay off (literally & figuratively). We cannot allow everything were presented to automatically deserve admiration & further attention. (Unlike a virus - we CAN stop bad ideas from propagating...)
ALSO - I'm not sure why everyone is so down on the PT Cuiser; I will admit its novelty wore off quickly....but is shape/space seems pretty efficient...next thing you know someone will challenge the status of the most magnigficent automobile ever, the AMC Pacer!
8.
August 20, 2004, 6:01 PM
Phil: there was a story in the Herald a couple weeks ago about a dealer in Boca (Palm beach?) selling Gacey's paintings
9.
August 20, 2004, 6:35 PM
Oldpro: I'm sure you're report is right - I've seen the paintings & am aware of the attention surrounding them.
Even though he starts the panel off by identifying with the "frustration" within arts organizations, I just think the way Bagge presented the situation was not meant to extract any sympathy for the position this particular character was taking...he preceeds by questioning those "seeing themselves as waging a war against cultural opression" and immediately follows the panel with the claim that "anything and everything will be championed as 'real art' by someone."
But rather than guessing and arguing someone else's intent, the most reasonalble thing to do would be to ask Mr. Bagge directly. I'll try.
10.
August 20, 2004, 9:32 PM
Phil: i think the problem is that he sets out to lampoon the pretentions of the art world, and because those pretention are so gross and obvious he makes a lot if hits, but because he does not know it from the inside there are many things that go off kilter and and out of tune. As I read it I chuckled one minute and scratched my head the next.
1.
Wiley Wiggins
August 19, 2004, 6:55 PM
His argument for current industrial design is the PT Cruiser? Eyuuuch.
Otherwise, fun read.