apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Be careful talking about something you seem to know nothing about----it really shows!

I dont know what I am talking about, but I can see that on someones wall. I can see someone trying to sell that for big bucks, or chucking it out in the trash. "Art" is in the eye of the beholder perhaps.

I'm curious about an elaboration on your comment poptart. What specifically is it that kerikeri doesn't seem to know?

dude- poptart- its just a blog! i realize being a facist art snob can be beneficial in certain circles, but here its all about sharing ideas. and i think its a fun idea! and in my professional opinion, this isnt any worse than most of today's "modern art"- in fact, its a lot more creative than anything Any Warhol ever thought up though i can see how a can of soup in various colors can be seen as a stroke of "genius". (nothing against Andy)

I'd hang this :) It reminds me of a painting I have that was made for me by the toddlers from the kindergarten I interned at as a going away present.

Not that I know or speak for poptart, but s/he was perhaps referring to this:

"Does it mean anything? No.
Does it allow you to explore your inner feelings? No.
Does it make a statement about something important in your life? No."

Why are the answers to these questions so unwaveringly "no"?

In any case, art is what it is. Do with it what you want, as far as I'm concerned. And for me, I think I'd get sick of that particular doodle board pretty quick. I'll keep my eye out for others!

i personally think it's fun. you should have taken the canvas to the front and bought it. lol.

children, if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.

I like the "poop butt help!"

"But is it art?" This is the difference between art and decoration. There's nothing wrong with declaring some fanciful arbitrary and/or coincidental thing decoration, but it's quite another to assert that this is art. Artifact, maybe. Hang it on your wall if you like, I guess, or make something similar, find it in the wild. Looking at things that entertain you in some way is not wrong. This revelation wasn't that astounding, and I'm not sure anyone really needed it that might need to hear it, although they might consistently mistake decoration for art.

KTG-
Who gets to dictate what is art? Or is it the intent of the maker?
Yes it is an artifact, but it's art too, why, because I say so. For me it's like Jess Helm said about porn- "I can't define it, but I know it when I see it."

i dunno how i feel about this at all. with all the careful planning we do with putting our homes together, throwing something like this up on our walls seems to me like a cop-out.
one may find it interesting as an "artifact" as KTG said, but is it art? is it artistic? It was never intended as art, so as far as i'm concerned it's just a piece of canvasboard with a bunch of mindless doodles. but that's just me.
If you think its art, then hang that baby up and enjoy.

if it were in my hands, i'd probably add to it, editing the parts that make it look like a "piece of canvasboard with mindless doodles." i'd probably add something cohesive and make it my own art. But then by the time i would finish, you wouldn't even recognize it.

It just cheapens the word. I'm recalling Jessica from the blog "What about Orange?" having a big problem referring to many of the things she does as crafts, and there was a giant thread about it. But she has no problem seemingly referring to them as art. You don't need to elevate everything just because you like it. Craft is not a diminutive, that's just a perception, but when you take some things that belong in that category and elevate them, then the word art becomes cheap too, and meaningless.

People don't have to agree whether something is or isn't art, either, but it ought to begin to mean something, and not just fill a space with a decoration.

Puh-lease- "cheapen the word". It is just a word, a definition that covers so much. The art world, on the other hand is an exclusive club- if all the art in the world were accepted into the "art world", the club would be too big, therefore un-exclusive and undesirable.

Doesn't this piece have "meaning"? A collaboration between a group of "Artists" who don't know each other, a palimpsest of messages and thoughts and pictures.

There is something call subconscious art: a product of artistic merit created without artistic intentions. That happens. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9jyv6WIxUY

i think people should just put things in their home that make them happy and that make them smile. period. who cares if it's high style, art or an artifact? everything in your home doesn't have to be so perfect, labored or have meaning. would i keep this up on my wall forever? no. would i have it up for awhile to interject some fun and spontaneity into my home? for sure.

Why so critical? Why so crabby? Lighten up, people!

I personally love this. It irritates me that people get so bent out of shape about seeing things like "For Like Ever" and "Keep Calm" everywhere and start begging for originality, but when someone suggests something completely off the wall like this, the same type of person bristles.

This is a good, GREEN solution. If toilet sculptures and pictures of innards can go in museums, this can be art, too. You can always just say it's a "sardonic reflection of post-modern pop culture" or some dreck like that if cornered. :D

LOL at what is written on there!

Re: my earlier comment, the blog is actually called "How About Orange?" and this is the recent post of hers I meant to refer to
http://howaboutorange.blogspot.com/2008/08/how-to-make-wall-art.html

It's using the word art when it's clearly not art. Art isn't just nice. Do you think the hand towels in your bathroom are art? Do you think the shoes you wear are art? Someone made them and spent time designing something so that it could be mass-produced, which is what a tutorial is. Millions of people could pick up the materials and produce a few for themselves, rather than a factory repeating the process and selling them to you via a retailer.

And here was the post that instigated a long debate about the use, perception, connotations of the word "craft"
http://howaboutorange.blogspot.com/2007/11/i-hate-crafting.html

I'm not saying the painting above isn't an amusement of sorts. I would point out that more people seem to appreciate an art supply doodle board to the lovely same freaking thing of children with markers to a sofa, and I think that's definitively rigid in its own way - sofas are supposed to be plain and adult, not necessarily dull, but adhering to a standard appearance, while whimsy and color and boldness has its place on the wall, not the whole wall, but pictures you can take down when you're bored. That's not art appreciation either. I don't think the spontaneous painting is a craft, but it's my strict opinion that anything with a tutorial attached is probably much more craft than art, despite someone wanting to distance themselves from some artificial aversion to the appropriate term for what they make. It may have a level of finery that's apparent above other crafts, but there's no shame in the word.

Between deliberate handiworks and intentional communications are serendipitous formations I just would not call art. Fun to look at, cool, interesting, fitting my decor, exhibitive of talents, etc., but not art. The elephants that paint? Not art. That is more "this was made by an elephant, not a 3-year-old, so it's worth more money because we're raising money, and 3-year-olds aren't an endangered species." People help the elephants out a great deal in fact, and it's a good cause, but an elephant isn't an artist. You could probably train a dog to paint you something similar if you don't have an elephant or a 3-year-old handy.