Pigs, Poop and Politics...
I am completely aware I signed up for school, to attend class, to participate in class, to listen to lectures, to work on papers and to choose knowledge, no matter the subject. I am also completely aware the political persuasion most college professors, teaching assistants, wannabe professors and regular old teachers endorse. I am completely aware and have learned a great deal about what a university education entails in my five years as a liberal arts major. I've also learned, that if I disagree with something I need to truly understand why and then clarify why I believe what I believe. Freshman argumentative essay requirements - I have an opinion or thesis and I back it up with facts, anecdotal evidence, and concede when that may not be enough to convince. Also, I will not argue topics considered "not win-able." More than anything, in a public setting like a classroom, those topics should be avoided when possible. For many, topics such as abortion and capital punishment, touch on matters of faith and are highly unshakable. Apparently, for some, animal rights falls in this category as well, as you will soon see.
Given that I tend to disagree with politics in general in the classroom (and you will quickly find out why), I tend to enjoy playing the devils' advocate. Of course, I will only speak up when I have a good foundation on the topic or when I have information about a topic that has been conveniently ignored or left out of the discussion, usually much to the teachers' chagrin. What I find, more often than not, is the teacher has an opinion, sometimes supported by factual events, but more often than not by the latest liberal talking point generated by a blog or spam flavored email (which are all true and fact-checked, right?) What I also find is many of the students in the class mindlessly follow along and spout off the same dramatic phrases over and over again without the hint of assurance in their voices... "Obama will make my education more affordable for my parents to pay." Hmmmm. #1 - Can he really do that? #2 - Are they that unaware of how universities are funded? and #3 - do they really care what their parents are paying for? And another favorite my art history teacher is fond of, "McCain is just one melanoma away." From what?!! Sudden death? Or laser surgery? Yes, cancer is real people and cancer education is real important...get some. Oh, and lately, the greatest has been and I quote, "Palin is no feminist because she didn't abort her retarded baby". Seriously, I could not possibly make this up.
Thursday nights I attend an Art History class from 645 pm - 945 pm. The subject matter isn't really history - more like Art Now (which is what it's officially titled) - or history in the making. Or really crappy (and I mean this in a strict literal sense) art that 200 years from now will either be revered or laughed at, along with the current generation of self-absorbed ego maniacs intent on making a buck....oh, and creating an atmosphere of self reflective guilt - but only if your Caucasian and Catholic, apparently.
Tonight we talked about poop, (ohhhh, that's what she meant by literal crap) Paul McCarthy's Complex Shit (2008) inflatable poop pile to be exact. Here's a picture...
The topics we were discussing were Is it Art, and Humor in Art. And let's face it, poop is funny, or can be, I guess, and ultimately poop involves an element of creation, although I would choose to argue it's the art of science. Plenty of artists have and are working with poop, heck, even the darling of Post Modernist Art, Andres Serranno is now working in and selling $30K poop sculptures, but I digress, the true humor, for me, was found in this article about McCarthy's stinky sculpture (article from The Guardian, 8/12/08)...
I really don't want to take the time to talk - in depth - about how insanely ignorant and stereotypical her comment was. Perhaps she falls so perfectly into the stereotypical, Tree Hugging Liberal persona she simply assumes others must fall as perfectly into the stereotypical, Close-Minded Conservative persona. I mean, why else would a nearly PhD educated, former journalist of the New York Times and the Detroit Free Press and self-proclaimed intellectual make such a broadly sweeping statement to a group of people she doesn't even know? But seriously, this was only mildly funny in comparison to what came next.
Continuing with the theme of Humor in Art and Is it Art (oh, yeah, that's what we all showed up to talk about) we discussed Wim Delvoye's, Marcel (1997) which led to another brilliant comment by a grad student in the class, who, honestly, never stops talking. We all know her personal life story and what art she likes, what food she likes, who she will be voting for in November, and that she is quite fond of VH1's Flavor of Love and every single one of its' spin-off shows since. My teacher just loves her and shares the Flavor of Love joy. Oh, and by the way, she's the one who made the "Palin is no feminist because she didn't abort her retarded baby" comment.
Wim Delvoye, a Belgium conceptual artist decided to tattoo some pigs and exhibit them as art in galleries. One such pig was named Marcel, of which Delvoye greatly loved. Delvoye employed the best needle-men in Antwerp to tattoo the pigs and because he was interested in an impeccably crafted result, he had the pigs sedated for the process. Now for the humor...Flavor Flav's Grad Student had a m-e-l-t-d-o-w-n. It was amazing. She suddenly was so "distracted" by her "bad feelings for the pig" that she couldn't even comment on the apparent art. And what was this artist saying about tattoo's anyway? I mean, for God's sake, she had a slew of them...of which we were already aware thanks to her strategically placed garments allowing for maximum exposure. I had to muffle my laughter when the next slide was of, not Marcel, but of Marcel's skin. Yes, Marcel died and like any artist interested in preserving his art, Delvoye
had him skinned.
The poor girl just didn't even know what to think. She was so upset and just couldn't come to terms with this kind of controversial art. She said, "I mean, the pig didn't even have a choice in the matter?"
It's just highly unfortunate the Tree Hugger didn't get her own disclaimer for Delvoye's art. I mean, the teacher had enough fortitude to persuade the Close-Minded Conservatives not to even bother with Laurie Anderson's exhibit. You know, the more I think about it the more humorous Art Now is becoming. Up next? The only "mandatory reading" of the semester, Barack Obama's speech on race relations...ironically scheduled on an exam night.
Given that I tend to disagree with politics in general in the classroom (and you will quickly find out why), I tend to enjoy playing the devils' advocate. Of course, I will only speak up when I have a good foundation on the topic or when I have information about a topic that has been conveniently ignored or left out of the discussion, usually much to the teachers' chagrin. What I find, more often than not, is the teacher has an opinion, sometimes supported by factual events, but more often than not by the latest liberal talking point generated by a blog or spam flavored email (which are all true and fact-checked, right?) What I also find is many of the students in the class mindlessly follow along and spout off the same dramatic phrases over and over again without the hint of assurance in their voices... "Obama will make my education more affordable for my parents to pay." Hmmmm. #1 - Can he really do that? #2 - Are they that unaware of how universities are funded? and #3 - do they really care what their parents are paying for? And another favorite my art history teacher is fond of, "McCain is just one melanoma away." From what?!! Sudden death? Or laser surgery? Yes, cancer is real people and cancer education is real important...get some. Oh, and lately, the greatest has been and I quote, "Palin is no feminist because she didn't abort her retarded baby". Seriously, I could not possibly make this up.
Thursday nights I attend an Art History class from 645 pm - 945 pm. The subject matter isn't really history - more like Art Now (which is what it's officially titled) - or history in the making. Or really crappy (and I mean this in a strict literal sense) art that 200 years from now will either be revered or laughed at, along with the current generation of self-absorbed ego maniacs intent on making a buck....oh, and creating an atmosphere of self reflective guilt - but only if your Caucasian and Catholic, apparently.
Tonight we talked about poop, (ohhhh, that's what she meant by literal crap) Paul McCarthy's Complex Shit (2008) inflatable poop pile to be exact. Here's a picture...
The topics we were discussing were Is it Art, and Humor in Art. And let's face it, poop is funny, or can be, I guess, and ultimately poop involves an element of creation, although I would choose to argue it's the art of science. Plenty of artists have and are working with poop, heck, even the darling of Post Modernist Art, Andres Serranno is now working in and selling $30K poop sculptures, but I digress, the true humor, for me, was found in this article about McCarthy's stinky sculpture (article from The Guardian, 8/12/08)...
A giant inflatable dog turd created by the American artist Paul McCarthy was blown from its moorings at a Swiss museum, bringing down a power line and breaking a window before landing in the grounds of a children's home.
The exhibit, entitled Complex Shit, is the size of a house. It has a safety system that is supposed to deflate it in bad weather, but it did not work on this occasion.
Juri Steiner, the director of the Paul Klee centre, in Berne, told AFP that a sudden gust of wind carried it 200 metres before it fell to the ground, breaking a window of the children's home. The accident happened on July 31, but the details only emerged yesterday.
Flying poop, oh I would have loved to see it...unintended performance art at its' best. Speaking of performance art, Laurie Anderson, will be in Lawrence performing her Homeland piece. It's basically her personal response to a post-9/11 America and her response is *surprise* not necessarily full of patriotism and optimism in true post-modern fashion. My art history instructor began class with a reminder Anderson would be here Friday and if we could car pool to get there it would be the "right and green thing to do." And then she said this, "Oh, and if you are a more conservative, right-winger type, this exhibit won't be for you." I can quote her because I wrote it down and I wrote it down because I thought that maybe if I read it with my eyes I could begin to believe what I was hearing with my ears.I really don't want to take the time to talk - in depth - about how insanely ignorant and stereotypical her comment was. Perhaps she falls so perfectly into the stereotypical, Tree Hugging Liberal persona she simply assumes others must fall as perfectly into the stereotypical, Close-Minded Conservative persona. I mean, why else would a nearly PhD educated, former journalist of the New York Times and the Detroit Free Press and self-proclaimed intellectual make such a broadly sweeping statement to a group of people she doesn't even know? But seriously, this was only mildly funny in comparison to what came next.
Continuing with the theme of Humor in Art and Is it Art (oh, yeah, that's what we all showed up to talk about) we discussed Wim Delvoye's, Marcel (1997) which led to another brilliant comment by a grad student in the class, who, honestly, never stops talking. We all know her personal life story and what art she likes, what food she likes, who she will be voting for in November, and that she is quite fond of VH1's Flavor of Love and every single one of its' spin-off shows since. My teacher just loves her and shares the Flavor of Love joy. Oh, and by the way, she's the one who made the "Palin is no feminist because she didn't abort her retarded baby" comment.
Wim Delvoye, a Belgium conceptual artist decided to tattoo some pigs and exhibit them as art in galleries. One such pig was named Marcel, of which Delvoye greatly loved. Delvoye employed the best needle-men in Antwerp to tattoo the pigs and because he was interested in an impeccably crafted result, he had the pigs sedated for the process. Now for the humor...Flavor Flav's Grad Student had a m-e-l-t-d-o-w-n. It was amazing. She suddenly was so "distracted" by her "bad feelings for the pig" that she couldn't even comment on the apparent art. And what was this artist saying about tattoo's anyway? I mean, for God's sake, she had a slew of them...of which we were already aware thanks to her strategically placed garments allowing for maximum exposure. I had to muffle my laughter when the next slide was of, not Marcel, but of Marcel's skin. Yes, Marcel died and like any artist interested in preserving his art, Delvoye
had him skinned.The poor girl just didn't even know what to think. She was so upset and just couldn't come to terms with this kind of controversial art. She said, "I mean, the pig didn't even have a choice in the matter?"
It's just highly unfortunate the Tree Hugger didn't get her own disclaimer for Delvoye's art. I mean, the teacher had enough fortitude to persuade the Close-Minded Conservatives not to even bother with Laurie Anderson's exhibit. You know, the more I think about it the more humorous Art Now is becoming. Up next? The only "mandatory reading" of the semester, Barack Obama's speech on race relations...ironically scheduled on an exam night.
