What do you consider art? What do you think should and should not be censored?
The acceptance of nudity, sexuality, vulgarity, moderately grotesque? These are all things that just a few years ago were pushing the boundaries of censorship.
Now there is a new form of "art"
It is a movie called Casuistry: the art of killing a cat.
In 2001 an art student named Jesse Powers, along with two friends, tortured and killed a stray cat. After videotaping their incessant torture of the cat, the trio claimed it as an "art" project. They tortured, disemboweled and skinned the cat alive, using knives and dental tools until the cat was beheaded.
Since the actual video tape was too graphic, a filmmaker decided to make a documentary on the subject. While he doesn't show all of the footage of the murder, he does show some. He is defending the "art" behind this disgusting barbaric act.
The film was played at the Toronto film festival last month. Many people were protesting its release, while others were avid supporters.
Am I crazy? Is my mind so closed that I am not capable of seeing how this is art? I am not one who usually supports artistic censorship, but this has gone way too far!
Having taught Art for a number of years I must hark back to what I know and love about it And dislike about it.
When I was teaching DEAF children to enjoy Art it was a main expression of their emotions that were pure put on the pages of their tablets. Some of them were not "pretty" pictures some were. All creative forces.
Then I began to teach PRE sCHOOL AND on up thru 8th grade.
Must admit, I saw nore raw talent in my students them some of the so called" exhibits" such as Andy Warhol taking advantage of the Art Climate to paint a can of Campbells Soup and became the darling of the Art World. SHAM that to me isn't Art.
One time I proved my position as I was in Charge of a large Art Show and State Director.
I took a canvas and sprinkled paint, rhinestones, glitter, all colors and put it flat on the pavement, took my car and ran over it twice. IHad a magnificent pieceof trash Art. Guess what I won first prize in the Adult level,of course since I had done this as a kind of joke and knew the judges with drew the "painting" and we all laughed. But was it truly funny?
This doesn't mean I am against Abstract Art, I do a lot of it personally, but I think Art is in the eye of the Beholder and sometimes these eyes get blurred by the sheer force of a new art form such as watching a cat being tortured. To me its obscene and the Gallery that allows such idiocy should be put out of business.
Pleae give me a Dega, Vermeer, any Renoir or Matisse and spare me the Jackson Pollocks insanity of throwing paint on to a canvas and the public screaming for more.
I even like Salvidor Dali as he had imagination.
Takes none to throw paint on a canvas.
I understand their are live Art Shows In New York, Imagine!
NO such thing, except for the bored New Yorkers who are to me like sheep who follow a new concept until bored then go on to another more degrading option.
I miss the sweetness and truth of the young childrens paintings, they to me were and will remain what true ARt is all about.
D
aka deltacent aka deltater
Life may not be the party I had hoped for.......
But while I'm here I might just as well listen to the music and dance..
I usually have a high tolerance for a lot of the art that is being produced today, but some people who claim to be artistically driven, are really only creating pieces of nonsense for shock value. The most annoying thing, is that the creators of such pieces of nonsense really don't believe that they are producing art either. The more shocking it is, the more controversy it generates. For reasons I Will never understand, the more controversy "art" generates, the more the art appreciators Will be forced to redefine what art really is.
To let these morons, who put such little thought and passion into their "masterpieces," believe that they have created something wonderful, is in essence calling the truly great artists a bunch of slackers!!
If killing a cat is acceptable and considered "art," what will be next?
Although I don't appreciate a lot of Andy Warhol's art, I appreciate the message behind his art. His message about the mass production of pop-culture materials, was amusingly overlooked by the people who mass produced his silly ideas of art. I have to admit, I get a good laugh out of Andy Warhol's "stuff."
I love your story about the trash art canvas you threw together! It's kind of reminiscent of something I saw hanging in a local gallery!
I could go on about "live Art" this is the new area for porno lovers.
I actualy saw on Cable a display of it in a gallery.It consisted of adults in a dubious if not actually on display commiting various acts of porno to each other in the name of Art.
It reminds one of Rome before the fall ,I think we are fast approching a time where the mere word censorshiop and art will not be considered worthy of attention.
We then find ourselves in a world without pririmaters and we all need to have boundries or we go completely wacko.
Sad Sad state of affairs.
D
aka deltacent aka deltater
Life may not be the party I had hoped for.......
But while I'm here I might just as well listen to the music and dance..
becker said this in post #3 : I am in full accord with both Delta and the way it is.
Torturing a cat? Repulsive and totally disgusting. Maybe a cat should skin the skinners.
Then we could have someone paint a lovely picture of the skinned human and have it adorn the walls of The Louvre!
If the Vatican would have had any idea that such an artistic genius as "powers" would grace the world in the 21st century, they would have sent Michelangelo packing with his hideous doodling of Renaissance trash!
10-04-2004 12:05 PM
