first time posting here in several years but here goes..
What I rather think is an interesting twist on this question would be, there
are now close to 8 billion people on the planet. There are no ideal vehicles
for "engaged metaphors". And yet there remains this compulsion to live. Do
we risk irrelevance?
I would ask Chris Ofili
http://www.oasinet.com/postmedia/art/ofili.htm
His painting of the holy Virgin Mary erupted in such violence and protest
when it was shown at the Brooklyn museum of Art..
(I personally almost cried with joy, such idiotic outrage, ...beauty)
that Mr. Giuliani shut the museum down I believe..
oh yes..
31, British artist, received hordes of free publicity when his collage, The
Holy Virgin Mary, which featured a black Virgin Mary with elephant feces on
one breast and cutouts from pornographic magazines glued in the background,
was part of the Brooklyn Museum of Art's October exhibit, "Sensation: Young
British Artists from the Saatchi Collection." New York City mayor Rudolph
Giuliani announced the city would withdraw its funding of the museum and
evict it from its space, which is leased from the city, unless the museum
canceled the exhibit. The museum then filed a lawsuit saying the mayor was
violating its First Amendment rights.
What truly bothered me about this whole episode was people's ignorance about
the life cycle. Elephant dung in a very real way forms part of the life
cycle of hundreds of different organisms.. dung beetles for instance pack it
off to be food and incubation unit for their young..
Now in this instance isnt the elephant a kind of benign "mother", even a
"divine mother" aiding in the production of countless new lives and insect
sensibilities..
why does Dung get such a bad rap? Its great fertilizer.. in fact so good,
it should be called "holy fertilizer", or better yet "holy, virginal
fertilizer" and many peoples have used it as part of their bodily
accoutrement..
To me, it should be revered and really properly used like the rich and
varied substance it is..
So yes, Painting is still on the cutting edge.. from modern alienation to
the poor perception and use and ecological knowlege of dung.
and dont mind Baudelaire too much, he had a terrible drinking problem...
and as far as real relevance goes
a gun and bullet in a crowd always seems to do something.. just a little
expansive for some..
GSZ
----- Original Message -----
From: "Aaron Kimberly" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Sunday, December 17, 2000 3:14 PM
Subject: FLUXLIST: Painting
> Hi Everyone,
>
> I'd enjoy hearing your comments about painting. I recall seeing a set of
> paintings at the Whitney over a year ago of "Divas". The commentary called
> into question whether painting is still a living language or
> historical/sentimental like 'opera'. Perhaps Baudelaire would agree that
> painting is no longer the ideal vehicle for engaged metaphors of modern
> life. Yet, there remains the compulsion to paint. Do we risk irrelivance?
> What do you think?
>
>
