My friend found this when she Googled it- http://www.drainmag.com/ContentPLAY/Essay/Patrick.html
"Laurette's manner of working equally recalls artist-critic Manny Farber's characterization of termite vs. white elephant art. In Farber's case, he was addressing the cinema and painting around 1962, but perhaps in Laurette's case he is the resourceful postmodern termite artist against the bloat and bombast of, say, America's own pride and joy Matthew Barney. To quote Farber, "the most inclusive description of the art is that, termite-like, it feels its way through walls of particularization, with no sign that the artist has any object in mind other than eating away the immediate boundaries of his art, and turning these boundaries into conditions of the next achievement."[12]Farber's termite art is contrasted against art "as an expensive hunk of well-regulated area."[13] Such an instance of termite art in Laurette's case is the Scattered Library piece of the late 1990s, in which the artist proposed to lend a selection of his own books—ninety of them to be exact—to the St. Bruno library in Grenoble, ending up during that period as almost 3/4 of one percent of the library's holdings." --- In ma-network@yahoogroups.com, Reid Wood <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > No need to blush ... Six Feet Under was a pretty good show. As for > the writers, I think they were probably combining several different > things when they came up with Elephant Art and Termite Art. > > On Nov 6, 2008, at 12:53 PM, tamarawyndham wrote: > > > OK, I'll tell you the context I heard it - it was on an old TV show > > (blush) "Six Feet Under" - > > Claire is in art school and the teacher criticizes her friend's > > sculpture as "elephant art" > > Then he asks the class "Anybody know what elephant art is?" No one > > says anything. Then > > he says "It was invented by Fluxus artists. Anybody know what > > Fluxus is?" No one says > > anything. Then he scolds them for not reading.... he goes on to > > call Claire's sculpture > > "termite art"..... I assumed "termite art" was a made up thing, but > > I wasn't sure about > > "elephant art" ... maybe they just made it up for the TV show... > > > > - T > > > > --- In ma-network@yahoogroups.com, Reid Wood <reidwood@> wrote: > > > > > > Some zoos have their elephants make paintings, which they then sell. > > > Don't know if this was the reference. > > > > > > Reid Wood > > > > > > On Nov 5, 2008, at 10:00 PM, Tamara Wyndham wrote: > > > > > > > I just heard a reference to something called "elephant art" that > > > > was something invented by Fluxus. I just tried to google it, but > > > > nothing showed up.... anybody familiar with "elephant art"? > > > > Just wondering, > > > > > > > > thanx, > > > > > > > > Tamara Wyndham > > > > http://www.tamarawyndham.com > > > > > > > > "No man who has managed to keep out of an office can be called a > > > > failure in life." > > > > - Richard Aldington > > > >
