Comments on Ink Stained Hands: Born Under a Bad Sign; The Mentalists: Darger, Wol...

Thanx Bill. He sounds excellent is several ways.

2010-11-25T11:43:17.712-05:00

Thanx Bill.
He sounds excellent is several ways.

Sabio, zizek wrote a book called "the puppet ...

2010-11-25T11:30:01.720-05:00

Sabio, zizek wrote a book called "the puppet and the dwarf, the perverse core of christianity," and the book sort of comes down to the moment on the cross where jesus doubts god, and asks "why have you forsaken me," and zizek takes this to mean that god in the form of jesus, doubts god, so that god is himself an atheist. He's a really interesting writer. Thanks for checking out my blog, bill

Thanx for sharing the video. First I have heard t...

2010-11-25T10:14:11.073-05:00

Thanx for sharing the video. First I have heard this guy though I have heard some Christians (albeit, radically unorthodox) support him. Some Emergent Christians like him.
It was fascinating -- in an abstract way. But it affected me -- ahhhh, that is art!

another similarity I didn't mention is that al...

2010-08-01T15:25:52.576-04:00

another similarity I didn't mention is that all these guys start a drawing and then EXPAND it, they never hem it in - they are adding paper by gluing in all directions in the case of Ramirez, adding additional adjacent sheets in the case of Darger and Wolfli. They also all worked with collage, which predicted the current way collage is used in a lot of artwork.

Slavoj Zizek is a funny dude. I went to my librar...

2010-07-29T19:58:30.902-04:00

Slavoj Zizek is a funny dude. I went to my library to get his newest book, and had them buy it.

"No, you call this porn? .. my god."

2010-07-28T18:15:20.551-04:00

"No, you call this porn? .. my god."

go bill !

2010-07-27T20:33:05.324-04:00

go bill !

d, what would be a positive, or at least a better,...

2010-07-27T19:37:56.869-04:00

d, what would be a positive, or at least a better, way for artists to meet the needs of the audience. I think that could be an awesome article, "how art meets the needs of its audience." you got me thinking.

D, great points! The market changes the way the w...

2010-07-27T18:09:29.754-04:00

D, great points! The market changes the way the work is perceived, and artists create personas, or emphasize problems as a way to make themselves more interesting to talk about. I think that really good artists do leave some vulnerability in the work, or something so open that its embarrassing, but what I think your point is, is that people are doing this in an artificial way to hype the work. That the shift in emphasis that the market places on the individual is for the individual to make themselves appear fucked up so they fit the model of the artists which exists for the buyers... really interesting. I had not thought of it like that. Thanks d!!!!

Nietzsche held alcohol and religion as the same th...

2010-07-27T16:42:20.770-04:00

Nietzsche held alcohol and religion as the same thing, BAD. If not a dick, he was at least no fun ;)

Are we at a point where sane people are jealous of the crazy? Ever since the art world has decided posthumously re-contextualize every single fringe artist and canonize them as visionary [ the van gogh effect ] , we have seen a rise in so called 'crazy' ART. OCD and other slight inter personal maladies are slowly becoming apart of the artist repertoire. Is that right? NO it is not.

Good or Bad its apart of the myth of art perpetuated by the artist buying world. You just cant have a good confab about your newest acquisition unless the artist has some tragic story! Now, my anger and BS aside what can be made of this? In my opinion the art should speak for itself, but for the rest of the non art world, they really cant see the forest for the trees. Im not a big fan of this.

Another big selling point about good art is that it must look impossible for the average person to make, or it becomes less great art and more of a design or de-constructive statement. Im glad that alot of new art is getting back to this. At the same time the general public is getting less aware of what it is to be an artist. Its a lot easier for the lay person to look at a work of art and say "that guy must be crazy" than "wow, he must have worked hard for years to be that good". And because of this art seller of the world have capitalized on this slight difference in the perception of fine art.

i know, i know ... so bitter :)

wow gordon, great thoughts. thanks, I totally agr...

2010-07-27T16:08:53.430-04:00

wow gordon, great thoughts. thanks, I totally agree with you, and what you said enriches and clarifies what i was thinking about. thanks dude!

Hi Bill, another good train of thought here. I lik...

2010-07-27T14:43:46.716-04:00

Hi Bill,
another good train of thought here. I like contextualizing these guys as being some of the earlier documented cases of failure or refusal to adjust to swiftly changing times. As if they were our cultural smoke detectors picking up on a fire that many could not feel coming yet.

I think another component to their popularity at this point is that they are percieved as relatively "pure" artists untainted by the art world or maybe even the world in general. They were misunderstood, alienated and basically unrecognized during the course of their lives, yet they made all this amazing work that has redeemed them from this obscurity. This type of unlikely redemption is a pillar of our artistic mythology and has some allure for sure.

These examples offer us hope that if we stay disciplined, committed and engaged we may also find redemption in spite of being awkward, isolated weirdos who may make little discernible progress through life.

It is funny to me how I can understand faith so much better in this context even though it really differs little from religious faith when unpacked.