The Great Art Debate

[TANGODANCER]

you could try tango!

you aren't really trying to say that the artist has not taken a potentially horrid, cold, frightening experience and sanitised it, are you?? the clean warm looking soft hay - the soft light-tones - the absence of animal crap - the absence of vermin and flies - artistically arranged ample water jug and food plate - warm, dry clothing - rosy cheeks - sunlight playing across the scene... it is the very epitome of cosy!

Apparently the picture comes with a sound and smell engagement pack. You hear flies buzzing,( even though it's December), a baby crying, smell the donkey shit and hear the sound of howling winds and icy blasts. They recommend looking at it in a cold room in a wife-beater vest to re-live Joseph's frustration at it all.

[thebish]

you could try tango!

you aren't really trying to say that the artist has not taken a potentially horrid, cold, frightening experience and sanitised it, are you?? the clean warm looking soft hay - the soft light-tones - the absence of animal crap - the absence of vermin and flies - artistically arranged ample water jug and food plate - warm, dry clothing - rosy cheeks - sunlight playing across the scene... it is the very epitome of cosy!

Apparently the picture comes with a sound and smell engagement pack. You hear flies buzzing,( even though it's December), a baby crying, smell the donkey shit and hear the sound of howling winds and icy blasts. They recommend looking at it in a cold room in a wife-beater vest to re-live Joseph's frustration at it all.

I'm very happy for you to consider it as "great art" Tango!

as for me - I'm not sure I have ever seen a nativity painting that I would consider as "great art" - too often the artist is hi-jacked by mawkish sentimentality... i'll keep looking though...

[TANGODANCER]

I'm very happy for you to consider it as "great art" Tango!
as for me - I'm not sure I have ever seen a nativity painting that I would consider as "great art" - too often the artist is hi-jacked by mawkish sentimentality... i'll keep looking though...

Ah, bish. I really don't care if it's classed as "great art" by anyone's standards or not. I simply said I liked it and claimed nothing more. I know that's a sin in itself, just to like something but maybe, just maybe, the underlying message was actually the joy of the birth of Jesus and not the sheer angst of it all. To use Bruce's terms, let those waves of happiness wash over you and engage with the joy rays. It's only for a few days whilst the students and the politicians are on a break. We'll soon be back to the splash of water cannons, the thud of police truncheons the rumble of reality and What Tracy did Next. Plenty of material for great art there. Merry Christmas.

[thebish]

I'm very happy for you to consider it as "great art" Tango!
as for me - I'm not sure I have ever seen a nativity painting that I would consider as "great art" - too often the artist is hi-jacked by mawkish sentimentality... i'll keep looking though...

Ah, bish. I really don't care if it's classed as "great art" by anyone's standards or not. I simply said I liked it and claimed nothing more. I know that's a sin in itself, just to like something

chill out Tango! I didn't post anything particularly argumentative or demeaning or critical - I just commented on what you had posted - why so defensive?? This thread is called "The Great Art Debate" - so if you post stuff here - there is a kind of underlying assumption that you think it is great art!

it is a also the Great Art DEBATE thread - so - if you post something here - then surely it is ok to debate whether what you have posted is Great Art??

maybe to avoid confusion - you should start a separate thread called "Stuff that I like and am not interested in discussion about" ??

[TANGODANCER]

chill out Tango! I didn't post anything particularly argumentative or demeaning or critical - I just commented on what you had posted - why so defensive?? This thread is called "The Great Art Debate" - so if you post stuff here - there is a kind of underlying assumption that you think it is great art!

it is a also the Great Art DEBATE thread - so - if you post something here - then surely it is ok to debate whether what you have posted is Great Art??

maybe to avoid confusion - you should start a separate thread called "Stuff that I like and am not interested in discussion about" ??

Good Lord above What am I defensive about? I couldn't be more chilled out if I tried, I posted a tongue-in- cheek reply and added a big grin and a Merry Christmas at the end. Are you having a bad day? No more Great Art for me, too abrasive and unfriendly.

[thebish]

No more Great Art for me, too abrasive and unfriendly.

I think you've promised that before! don't tease us!

(the defensive bit was all the guff about saying you liked a picture being "a crime"!)

[TANGODANCER]

And God Bless Us One and All. Merry Christmas....

[thebish]

And God Bless Us One and All. Merry Christmas....

so - you think that's great art??? actually - I agree!

[Little Green Man]

Yeah Tango. I'm baking in the heat transfer coefficient here. Engage with the u-value, man!

Do you think if I Photoshop a few icicles and snowflakes on there thebish will see it as good art?

You could add a Gary Megson caganer.

[CrazyHorse]

And God Bless Us One and All. Merry Christmas....

Didn't we ban these two muppets months ago?

[Verbal]

Don't know what to call this really, but I 'guess' art may fit...

Anyway, this is a photographer who was documenting the life of a girl he met in 1993, who was aged 18 at the time. It became known as 'The Julie Project'. Spare half an hour for it. Absolutely harrowing and heartbreaking. Some images are a bit tough and nsfw too.

http://www.darcypadilla.com/thejulieproject/intro.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[William the White]

Astonishing, Verbal, just astonishing... this is certainly the right thread...

My response is pity, anger, frustration and pity again... The story, i have to say, more disturbing than the photos...

[Verbal]

At times I'd agree. Zach's phonecall

[Il Pirate]

Thanks for that Verbal, reminds me of an exhibition I once saw, where a young english lad re visited a flat in New York where he contracted aids. Started off with photo's of a party at the flat and his then partner, who subsequently died of the disease. The guy was in the last months of his life when he went back to the flat. Very moving and completly changed my viewpoint on HIV/Aids.

[thebish]

I took a trip to Wells Cathedral with my camera whilst holidaying near there last summer..
(the famous scissor arch)


Wells Cathedral by revnev, on Flickr

Now it seems that Gormley has nicked loads of nails out of the roof and made his latest installation:



The piece is in the form of a body which is suspended as if floating in mid-air in the Cathedral Crypt where the tomb of Thomas Beckett was originally sited.

He added: “We are all the temporary inhabitants of a body. It is our house, instrument and medium.

“Through it, all impressions of the world come and from it all our acts, thoughts and feelings are communicated.

"I hope to have evoked this in the most direct way possible.”

Now it looks like I will have to go back again... (though I think they charge to go down the crypt...) - I still have my authoriosed photographer-sticker from last time though - so I might save a few pennies there!

[Il Pirate]

Whilst I (in the main), like Gormley's work, I think he's fu*ked up a good ceiling there. Why can't we just enjoy the beauty of the architecture? Great photo btw Bish.........Any photo's of the clock?

[clapton is god]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMoKcsN8wM8" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Incredible amount of work gone into this animation.

[TANGODANCER]

Would you see this as modern art? (Nothing to do with me by the way)

[William the White]

Would you see this as modern art? (Nothing to do with me by the way)

I really hope it is... and if i was an artist I'd be proud of it... but if it isn't it is still a wonderful collision of colour, shape, pattern... and, you know, i'm looking forward to you revealing the truth to us all... is it by,,, God???

[TANGODANCER]

WTW said:

really hope it is... and if i was an artist I'd be proud of it... but if it isn't it is still a wonderful collision of colour, shape, pattern... and, you know, i'm looking forward to you revealing the truth to us all... is it by,,, God???

Let's get a couple more views first, then I'll tell.