May 27, 2005
"Art" Exhibit About Controversy Features President Bush Being Sodomized
— Ace Controversy, eh?
— Ace Controversy, eh?
The exhibit also features the Pope -- with swastikas -- and, get this, the Statute of Liberty -- with swastikas.
Very original.
Artists tell us piously they exist to "challenge dogma" and "question assumptions" and the like, but it's no great trick to challenge the dogma or question the assumptions of others. Real rebellion, and real free-thinking, comes from challenging your own beliefs, and the beliefs of your peer-group.
But they never seem to get around to that, do they?
Nope, just challenging the imputed straw-man beliefs of people they don't know (but think they do, 'cuz they have a whole raft of stereotypes about them) over and over again.
I've been challenged enough, "artists." Challenge yourselves for a change.
What would be truly controversial -- perfect for an exhibit on Controversy -- would be a picture of voting Iraqis with the legend, "Bush was right."
That would be controversial to this crowd. That would satisfy the artists' self-styled mission of "shaking up easy assumptions."
Odds of that happening? Pretty f'n' small.
Thanks to Hubrisblog.
Posted by: Ace at
10:02 AM
| Comments (37)
Post contains 195 words, total size 1 kb.
1
I might add, "challenge yourself on your own nickel!"
Posted by: Ron at May 27, 2005 10:15 AM (YtqTh)
2
Actually, a real challenge would feature some work showing Mohammed (PTUI) getting sodomized.
Not likely.
Not likely.
Posted by: someone at May 27, 2005 10:20 AM (S22v9)
3
This kind of reminds me of my favorite Onion article, where people protest a painting of Jesus Christ because the artist did not use urine or feces to blaspheme Jesus.
Anyway, that's pretty much the way I feel about many of the rock bands around these days, e.g. Coldplay, Audioslave, System of a Down, etc. Gee, another left-wing rock band. How original and exciting.
Maybe I'm getting old, but I find most left-wing nonsense not provocative or offensive, but simply boring.
Anyway, that's pretty much the way I feel about many of the rock bands around these days, e.g. Coldplay, Audioslave, System of a Down, etc. Gee, another left-wing rock band. How original and exciting.
Maybe I'm getting old, but I find most left-wing nonsense not provocative or offensive, but simply boring.
Posted by: Jason at May 27, 2005 10:24 AM (Y2Bw/)
4
Amen
Posted by: brak at May 27, 2005 10:32 AM (OuLOj)
Posted by: I'm with you fellers at May 27, 2005 10:41 AM (dhRpo)
6
Piss Mohammed.
Posted by: at May 27, 2005 10:43 AM (1EzYN)
7
This is really going to fucking far.
Posted by: at May 27, 2005 10:48 AM (S0i1E)
8
"I am a Democrat because I believe in public support of the arts. By "the arts," I of course mean those things made by, or excreted by, an artist of some sort. It is especially important that art be provocative and take controversial stances, like opposing Jesse Helms, and so on."
-- Iowahawk, "Why I Am A Democrat"
-- Iowahawk, "Why I Am A Democrat"
Posted by: iowahawk at May 27, 2005 11:02 AM (xKAPd)
9
I have worked with a number of "artists" in situations like this, and let me tell you what motivates them: GETTING THAT GRANT. Most of them don't give two hoots about actual politics (in the sense of, you know, learning about the issues and coming to a reasoned conclusion); they just parrot whatever line they must in order to stay in the good graces of Those Who Dispense The Grant Money. Fully three-quarters of a professional "artist's" life is hobbnobbing with art snobs, kissing up them them incessantly so that they can get that next $40,000 check to do "research" on "The downtrodden status of half-caste Navajo lesbians". (Said research? Nine or ten months of indolence, sloth, self-indulgence and partying with the grant committee members, then maybe two weeks of actually forcing themselves to sit with their Powerbooks at the coffee shop, typing up whatever BS they can dream up that comes even close to the subject.)
Their only talent is the ability to successfully schmooze the suckers. (Gee, think I'm bitter much?)
Their only talent is the ability to successfully schmooze the suckers. (Gee, think I'm bitter much?)
Posted by: The Claw at May 27, 2005 11:07 AM (74cXW)
10
I'm with Jason. I'm irritated at the obvious stupidity of the artist, but have pretty much reached my capacity for outrage at the left.
Posted by: Slublog at May 27, 2005 11:09 AM (VaL8O)
11
The most amazing/annoying/ironic thing about this is that the guy who complained that the Bush-sodomy thing was "offensive and tasteless" is the fucking guy who created the Pope-Nazi thing.
Posted by: Rob A. at May 27, 2005 11:19 AM (bbEjP)
12
How about a photograph of the "artist" actually being sodomized?
Posted by: CraigC at May 27, 2005 11:24 AM (BO6SR)
13
According to the article, the Bush-sodomy painting was moved after the complaint from the pope-swastika guy. The artist said: "It does bother me a little bit that it was mounted differently and turned away from the other art in the room..."
I find it offensive that my tax dollars are supporting these guys. Karl Rove ought to be paying for PR like this out of his own pocket.
I find it offensive that my tax dollars are supporting these guys. Karl Rove ought to be paying for PR like this out of his own pocket.
Posted by: utron at May 27, 2005 11:29 AM (VVBQC)
14
Ace is swingin it like Thor today. You know, this makes me sad I'm not still in college. If I were I'd switch my major to art in a second, I'd be a sensation. Che guevara sucking Margaret Thatcher's strap-on. Lenin giving hummers in a truck stop. "Carl Marx's Scat Play Birthday Party in Watercolors" I'd be a frickin sensation, they wouldn't be able to stop talking about me, calling for my blood, yadda yadda just spell the name right. In three years it would be speaking tours and nationwide fame.
Posted by: at May 27, 2005 12:00 PM (0Kli9)
15
Ace is swingin it like Thor today. You know, this makes me sad I'm not still in college. If I were I'd switch my major to art in a second, I'd be a sensation. Che guevara sucking Margaret Thatcher's strap-on. Lenin giving hummers in a truck stop. "Carl Marx's Scat Play Birthday Party in Watercolors" I'd be a frickin sensation, they wouldn't be able to stop talking about me, calling for my blood, yadda yadda just spell the name right. In three years it would be speaking tours and nationwide fame.
Posted by: Tom at May 27, 2005 12:01 PM (0Kli9)
16
"The question also becomes if it's an appropriate use of public funds."Gee, do you think?
Why on earth are tax dollars being spent on art that makes political statements? And besides, isn't that a violation of McCain-Feingold?
Why on earth are tax dollars being spent on art that makes political statements? And besides, isn't that a violation of McCain-Feingold?
Posted by: SJKevin at May 27, 2005 12:23 PM (rGBYl)
Posted by: W.C. Varones at May 27, 2005 12:26 PM (QLFr2)
18
Tom,
I seriously think you're on to something. Wouldn't it be a great punk to set up some phoney art exhibit & invite all these lefty art snobs? I'd love to see their faces as they gaze upon paintings of Hillary Clinton being mounted by a donkey, Ted Kennedy fishing from a dock with a woman's decomposed hand on the end of his hook, Michael Moore eating a sandwich consisting of dead Iraqi children pressed between two pieces of bread, and Barney Frank diddling an eight year old boy.
God, that'd be priceless. It would be like the Protest Warriors on steroids.
I seriously think you're on to something. Wouldn't it be a great punk to set up some phoney art exhibit & invite all these lefty art snobs? I'd love to see their faces as they gaze upon paintings of Hillary Clinton being mounted by a donkey, Ted Kennedy fishing from a dock with a woman's decomposed hand on the end of his hook, Michael Moore eating a sandwich consisting of dead Iraqi children pressed between two pieces of bread, and Barney Frank diddling an eight year old boy.
God, that'd be priceless. It would be like the Protest Warriors on steroids.
Posted by: The Warden at May 27, 2005 12:43 PM (TO2bj)
19
Warden, you might be a genius.
Posted by: digitalbrownshirt at May 27, 2005 01:23 PM (ipjUv)
20
The question not being asked is who was sodomizing the President. My guess is that it was Lindsey Grahm although Barney Frank makes the most sense.
Posted by: Judd at May 27, 2005 06:05 PM (NksmS)
21
I dunno who was sodomizing Bush, but did you see the one of Britney Spears, Jessica Alba and Lindsey Lohan getting sodomized?
Yup, that was me.
Yup, that was me.
Posted by: Dogstar at May 27, 2005 06:10 PM (KgeNY)
22
There will never be a conservative version of this kind of 'Art', because the context is stale Marxist orthodoxy. The suckers who actually purchase this poorly conceived and poorly executed junk deserve what they get.
The Shock of the New - the idea that all true Art is transgressive and shocks the bourgeoisie - is juvenile crap. The Left has hijacked the narrative of Art History into a cul-de-sac.
To a conservative artist - like, say Edward Hopper - Art is about the pursuit of something that is deeply, personally true but also universally true. The only real shock is the shock of recognition.
As various commenters have demonstrated, coming up with ideas comparable to Bush-sodomy is easy. But conservative artists can't be bothered to follow up because they are too busy with serious things to splash around the shallow end of the pool.
The Shock of the New - the idea that all true Art is transgressive and shocks the bourgeoisie - is juvenile crap. The Left has hijacked the narrative of Art History into a cul-de-sac.
To a conservative artist - like, say Edward Hopper - Art is about the pursuit of something that is deeply, personally true but also universally true. The only real shock is the shock of recognition.
As various commenters have demonstrated, coming up with ideas comparable to Bush-sodomy is easy. But conservative artists can't be bothered to follow up because they are too busy with serious things to splash around the shallow end of the pool.
Posted by: lyle at May 27, 2005 11:02 PM (KST/t)
23
I think Tom's idea is EXCELLENT. Anyone know any of those protest warrior guys?? I tried to join, but there just wasn't enough interest in a Detroit chapter (go figure). OH, the beauty of it. I could wear a "Fuck Che" shirt ...
Posted by: carin at May 28, 2005 04:19 AM (CmeIB)
24
You reactionaries have got to stop flogging this idiotic Bush=Hitler nonsense.
It's yet another tedious example of how y'all make up "facts" to support
your conclusions.
Trust me, Dubya is NOTHING like Ol' Adolf:
*** When Hitler served in his country's military, he showed up...
*** ...and actually saw combat.
*** Hitler actually had to work for a living before he went into politics.
*** Hitler took a struggling country and brought it to the brink of global dominance.
Bush took a robust economy and drove it into the ground.
It's yet another tedious example of how y'all make up "facts" to support
your conclusions.
Trust me, Dubya is NOTHING like Ol' Adolf:
*** When Hitler served in his country's military, he showed up...
*** ...and actually saw combat.
*** Hitler actually had to work for a living before he went into politics.
*** Hitler took a struggling country and brought it to the brink of global dominance.
Bush took a robust economy and drove it into the ground.
Posted by: Don Myers at May 28, 2005 08:21 AM (+VNlz)
25
Awwwww! Look everyone, Donnie made himself a joke! How cute.
That's a good feller. Yes, Donnie. Everyone is very proud of you. Now toddle of to mommy like a big boy. Your diaper's full.
That's a good feller. Yes, Donnie. Everyone is very proud of you. Now toddle of to mommy like a big boy. Your diaper's full.
Posted by: The Warden at May 28, 2005 08:39 AM (Zxtyv)
26
Michael Friedman, the artist who complained to the county, said the painting is offensive and tasteless.
"Something snapped inside," he said. Friedman entered a piece depicting Pope Benedict XVI with several swastikas in the background.
"Sodomy in a public forum is not, from my perspective, considered art," he said. "I think somebody has to draw the line somewhere.
I suppose the same case could be made for Jews like Friedman sliming the Catholic Pope with swastikas.. But Christian-bashing is still acceptable.
If Friedman was stupid enough to tear out pages of the Koran and frame them, stamped them with swastikas, he would be instantly denounced, even hunted down, for the crime of "Koran desecration".
If he had arranged pictures of prominant Jews and stamped their foreheads with swastikas, his art would have instantly been scorned and rejected as "anti-Semitic".
Christian-bashing is safe. Unless Christians start acting with the same sort of outrage, lawsuits, even violence as Muslims and Jews do when their religion or religious figures are trashed...
"Something snapped inside," he said. Friedman entered a piece depicting Pope Benedict XVI with several swastikas in the background.
"Sodomy in a public forum is not, from my perspective, considered art," he said. "I think somebody has to draw the line somewhere.
I suppose the same case could be made for Jews like Friedman sliming the Catholic Pope with swastikas.. But Christian-bashing is still acceptable.
If Friedman was stupid enough to tear out pages of the Koran and frame them, stamped them with swastikas, he would be instantly denounced, even hunted down, for the crime of "Koran desecration".
If he had arranged pictures of prominant Jews and stamped their foreheads with swastikas, his art would have instantly been scorned and rejected as "anti-Semitic".
Christian-bashing is safe. Unless Christians start acting with the same sort of outrage, lawsuits, even violence as Muslims and Jews do when their religion or religious figures are trashed...
Posted by: Cedarford at May 28, 2005 10:13 AM (HoSBk)
27
Cedarford,
You say a lot of obnoxious things on this site, but advocating violence (even indirectly) as a form of opposition to ideas with which you disagree crosses a line that shouldn't be crossed.
You might want to reconsider that last sentence in your post.
You say a lot of obnoxious things on this site, but advocating violence (even indirectly) as a form of opposition to ideas with which you disagree crosses a line that shouldn't be crossed.
You might want to reconsider that last sentence in your post.
Posted by: The Warden at May 28, 2005 05:38 PM (Zxtyv)
28
Warden -
NO endorsement of violence is offered.
Just observing that the fact of Muslim violence as a reality that could be visited on parties effectively intimidates the media, Hollywood, and Western intellectuals from criticizing Islam.
Violence forces people to take adherents of a faith, and political movements seriously.
Even pacifist forces draw their power from existing against a background of violent forces, and pointing out they are a possible alternative. Ghandi offered peace against the violent Hindi, Muslim forces he turned out not to be able to control after all. Israel was born from terrorism and money spread in the right places, not moral persuasion. Martin Luther King was amplified by the burning cities and rioters that were coexistant with his times in the 60s - that he always pointed to as the counter-argument. Had he lived in more tranquil times, he would have just been another leader fondly remembered for giving nice speeches and organizing for later leaders that got the results...
Nor does Christian-bashing have to end with use of violence. It can end with counter lawsuits targeting the Muslim, Jew, and atheist lawsuits targeting them. Or angry protests shutting down non-Christian businesses or political retaliation against things Jews Muslims and atheists hold near and dear.
But the turn the other cheek, milksop Christianity silently taken abuse or going on apology tours - as the Pope did for the Crusades punks out Christians, and doesn't cut it.
But the day Christians do start fighting back, one way or the other, is the day the bullying ceases.
NO endorsement of violence is offered.
Just observing that the fact of Muslim violence as a reality that could be visited on parties effectively intimidates the media, Hollywood, and Western intellectuals from criticizing Islam.
Violence forces people to take adherents of a faith, and political movements seriously.
Even pacifist forces draw their power from existing against a background of violent forces, and pointing out they are a possible alternative. Ghandi offered peace against the violent Hindi, Muslim forces he turned out not to be able to control after all. Israel was born from terrorism and money spread in the right places, not moral persuasion. Martin Luther King was amplified by the burning cities and rioters that were coexistant with his times in the 60s - that he always pointed to as the counter-argument. Had he lived in more tranquil times, he would have just been another leader fondly remembered for giving nice speeches and organizing for later leaders that got the results...
Nor does Christian-bashing have to end with use of violence. It can end with counter lawsuits targeting the Muslim, Jew, and atheist lawsuits targeting them. Or angry protests shutting down non-Christian businesses or political retaliation against things Jews Muslims and atheists hold near and dear.
But the turn the other cheek, milksop Christianity silently taken abuse or going on apology tours - as the Pope did for the Crusades punks out Christians, and doesn't cut it.
But the day Christians do start fighting back, one way or the other, is the day the bullying ceases.
Posted by: Cedarford at May 28, 2005 06:20 PM (6krEN)
29
Yo! Idiots! I'm the 'fucking guy who did the pope nazi thing.' Why don't you take a look at it before flapping your worthless trash lips??!? Oh, by the way; I support my own art and I'm Republican. So chew on that for a bit, you lazy slugs.
Posted by: ARTISTMON at May 28, 2005 08:35 PM (zlXeH)
30
Artistmon,
I'd love to look at it. Do you have a link? I can't just up and fly to Ft Lauderdale this weekend.
As far as your claim that you fund your own art, I direct you to this statement from the Broward Art Guild, the organization responsible for putting on the exhibit it question, and coincidentally, linked to by your website.
"Funding for the Broward Art Guild is provided in part by the Broward County Board of County Commissioners, Broward Cultural Affairs Council, and Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau."
http://www.browardartguild.org/about.htm
Though this may not be the same as a government grant, it does appear that tax dollars have been used to help promote your art.
I'd love to look at it. Do you have a link? I can't just up and fly to Ft Lauderdale this weekend.
As far as your claim that you fund your own art, I direct you to this statement from the Broward Art Guild, the organization responsible for putting on the exhibit it question, and coincidentally, linked to by your website.
"Funding for the Broward Art Guild is provided in part by the Broward County Board of County Commissioners, Broward Cultural Affairs Council, and Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau."
http://www.browardartguild.org/about.htm
Though this may not be the same as a government grant, it does appear that tax dollars have been used to help promote your art.
Posted by: The Warden at May 29, 2005 07:39 AM (Zxtyv)
31
From the Broward County Cultural Affairs Council
"The 23-member Council recommends programs and the distribution of government and private resources for the visual arts, performing arts, literary arts, museums and festivals." http://www.broward.org/arts/council.htm
More on available grants here. Lots of goodies.
http://www.broward.org/arts/grants/programs.htm
"The 23-member Council recommends programs and the distribution of government and private resources for the visual arts, performing arts, literary arts, museums and festivals." http://www.broward.org/arts/council.htm
More on available grants here. Lots of goodies.
http://www.broward.org/arts/grants/programs.htm
Posted by: The Warden at May 29, 2005 07:58 AM (Zxtyv)
32
Is this what tax payers money to the infamous Nation Endowment for the Arts gets us? i say its way past time to defund the NEA and its smut art
Posted by: mad heron at May 29, 2005 09:47 AM (K3hNB)
33
The Broward Art Guild does indeed survive through private and public funding... like the membership I must pay each year in order to remain a member... or the money I have to shell out every exhibit I enter and the bucks I fork over in order to take a class there... as does every other artist affiliated with the Broward Art Guild. So Warden.... if you'd like to see my picture then please send an email and I'll forward you a copy. As far as your guest 'Cedarford' is concerned... well; Anti-Semites will never change. For the record; my piece does not 'slime' Christianity. It just provides the viewer with an 'historical window' of the CHURCH, both present and past. It wasn't Christians who went up in smoke by the millions during the Holocaust. But those black shirted Germans, wearing their Iron Cross, a part of a major Lutheran and Catholic nation, did not stop the terror but instead promoted it, while it was applauded through their Pastors and Priests... except for those few [and I mean just a wee number too] who decided to 'bear the Cross, and so fulfill the law of Christ.' Those Righteous Ones were burned up too... What a thought! Christians burning Christians! Yo! All of you Anti-Semites, like Cedarford and his ilk... suck on that for a while. May you will choke on your own vile spleen instead. Have a nice weekend all.
Posted by: ARTISTMON at June 07, 2005 01:48 PM (zlXeH)
34
This post is ironic. You might have added something in the line of 'tree-hugging hippies' - maybe you're not as well aquainted with the ignorance of your own 'peer-group'.
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