(long) A review of "Mom and Pop Art (AABF15)"
Benjamin Robinson
[The long of it]
When I was in fourth grade, my teacher assigned the class to write a
paragraph answering the question, "What is art?" Contemplating the
question briefly, I decided that "art" shouldn't be restricted to just
the paintings and sculptures that we see in museums. It encompassed
all sorts of things, from the pottery we ate from, to the music we
heard, to the books we read.
I don't remember mentioning TV shows specifically, but there's an art
to that, too. The people behind "Mom and Pop Art" evidently
understand this, because they got their technique right this time.
The meat of the story concerns Homer's unwitting foray into the world
of high art. Trying to build a backyard barbecue pit, he bungles the
job in an amusing way and ends up with a small pile of junk. Of
course, one man's trash is another man's (or woman's in this case)
treasure. The local gallery owner (nicely played by Isabella
Rossellini) sees the art in Homer's botched barbecue and encourages
him to show it publicly. When it sells, Homer is on his way.
Granted, the "Homer gets an unlikely new job" premise is wore thin
several dozen episodes ago, but "Mom and Pop Art" is one of the better
examples of the genre. For one thing, "artist" is actually a more
believable addition to Homer's resume than "truck driver" or
"bodyguard." There are plenty of people who dabble in art when not at
their real job (the father of one of my best friends did exactly
that), so the audience doesn't have to work hard to suspend disbelief.
It also helps that Homer doesn't radically rearrange his life to
accommodate his new line of work. One funny scene has him sketching
his co-workers in the shower.
For once, characterization is a strong point of an episode, rather
than something to be explained away. Homer is selfish and insensitive
enough to be funny, but usually pulls back in time to avoid inciting
viewer wrath. This is an important point, because when the family
pitches in to pull him out of a slump, we want to believe they have a
motivation to help him succeed. Marge, for her part, puts up with her
husband's shenanigans, but grudgingly enough that we don't think of
her as a doormat. Bart and Lisa are mischievous and helpful,
respectively, and avoid the trap of being one-dimensional.
At least some of the credit for this belongs to lead writer Al Jean,
who was one of the original writers for "The Simpsons." The tone of
the show reminded me of those older episodes, and I think it was he
who helped the other people working on this show guide the characters
back to their roots. The long memory also helped in linking Homer's
artistic success with Marge's artistic yearnings in "Brush With
Greatness (7F18)" (which was not a Jean episode, by the way). Not
only was it just referenced for the humor value, but becomes an
integral part of the plot when Marge is jealous of her Homer's early
success. (Speaking of old material, Maggie fell in this episode.
When was the last time you saw that?) Even the ending was right:
Warm, but not sappy.
Modern art lovers will find subtle references to their passion in this
show. When Homer and Marge tour Springfield's art museum, many of the
paintings in the background are actual works by such masters Picasso,
Rothko, and Mondrian. Jasper Johns has a brief cameo, proving mainly
that "The Simpsons" really isn't like other sitcoms on TV today.
(Really, can you imagine Johns turning up on "Veronica's Closet?")
At the end of "Brush with Greatness," Burns sums up one of Marge's
paintings with, "I'm no art critic, but I know what I hate, and I
don't hate this." My feelings for "Mom and Pop Art" are a little
stronger than not hating it. In fact, I rather like it.
Quite a work of art, you might say.
[The short of it]
One of the better "Homer gets a new job" shows, this episode benefits
from strong characterization, reasonably realistic plotting, and
interesting links back to "Brush with Greatness (7F18)." (And
probably from Al Jean's influence, as well.) Homer does an excellent
job of being boorish enough to entertain, but not so mean he enrages.
Other bonuses are lots of material for games of "spot the artist," and
good guest appearances by Isabella Rossellini and Jasper Johns. (A-)
[DYNs]
... the mystery vegetables on Marge's curtains seem to have morphed
back into carrots?
... Homer sticks his gun in the crib with Maggie?
... for that matter, Marge forgot to take Maggie out back with the
other kids?
... a man exhibiting a cave painting at the first art show was
dressed as a caveman?
... only Smithers pedals the swan boat?
[References]
Pop art
- title spoofs the name of the art genre
"Home Improvement"
- "Toolin' Around's" Doug Vaccaro resembles "Tool Time's" Al
Borland
Pere Noel
- Wiggum calls Homer "pear Noel", referencing Homer's body shape
and the French Santa Claus
"Love, American Style"
- Springfield's avant-garde gallery called "Louvre: American
Style"
"David"
- Michelangelo's statue of David recreated with junk at the first
art show
Seurat
- he was an artist who painted with lots of tiny dots. Barney's
napkin drawing is a copy of his famous painting of a French
riverbank scene
The Odyssey, by Homer
- Greek epic poem (and poet) lend name to Homer's solo art show
The Smithsonian
- The Springsonian Museum inspired by the Washington, D.C.,
showcase
[Previous Episode References]
[7F18] Marge's art career mentioned
[9F19] Ray Jay Johnson's career mentioned
[4F09] Skinner and Krabappel meet there for romantic trysts
[5F17] Springsonian Museum seen
[AABF13] Beanie Babies mentioned in conjunction with crime
[FFF]
Homer's garage note:
START
HERE
TOMORROW
7/17/95
Do-it-yourself center sign:
MOM & POP
HARDWARE
A SUBSIDIARY OF
GLOBAL DYNAMICS, INC.
Homer's rear bumper (or rather, his car's rear bumper):
SINGLE +------+
'N' |3FJP24|
SASSY +------+
Art museum banner and sign, first show:
INSIDE: OUTSIDER ART
LOUVRE:
AMERICAN STYLE
Art museum banner, second show:
SOLO SHOW: HOMER'S ODYSSEY
Art museum lobby sign:
NO SHIRT,
NO SHOES,
NO CHARDONNAY
Springsonian sign:
SPRINGSONIAN
MUSEUM
"WHERE THE ELITE
MEET MAGRITTE"
[Oops!]
Maggie is in her crib when Homer answers the door, but later appears
with the other kids when they poke their heads around the corner of
the house. (And I don't think she could have gotten there that fast
by herself, either.)
[Personal Comments & Observations]
>> Art History 101
If you watched "Mom and Pop Art" closely enough, you could have picked
up enough material to impress your art teacher for the rest of this
semester. Some of the artists and works mentioned or shown [*]
include:
* Jasper Johns: When he's not busy guest-voicing on cartoons,
Jasper Johns is a painter. Many of his paintings depict flat
subjects like flags, rulers, and targets. The public in general
liked him because most of the paintings resembled what their
subjects were "supposed" to look like (that is, his flags looked
like flags), and weren't ugly. Art critics liked pondering the
deep questions his work brought up, like "Does a painting of the
flag carry the same symbolic weight as an actual flag?"
* Magritte: Surrealist painter, whose works crossed up standard
artistic symbols with unsettling effect. One painting looked
like a family portrait, except the family was a set of coffins.
Another showed a castle atop a huge boulder, which itself
floated serenely above the ocean.
* Claes Oldenberg: Sculptor whose subjects are mundane objects,
like pencils, blown up to giant size.
* Picasso: Even Homer probably knows this guy. As Marge
helpfully points out, Picasso's art went through several stages,
depending on his interests at the time. The Springsonian has
that painting of the guitarist from his Blue Period, and what I
think is called "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon" from his abstract
phase. In addition, Burns mentions "Guernica," that famous
anti-war painting with grief-stricken war victims huddled in a
barn.
* Mark Rothko: After Marge mentions Picasso's "angry jerk"
period, we can see a painting of nesting squares on the wall
behind her. I think this is Rothko's "Homage to a Square."
Rothko was a minimalist painter, and had lots of paintings of
squares, solid-colored fields, and the like.
* Piet Mondrian: Next to the Rothko is a simple painting of
colored and white squares, separated by heavy black lines. This
is the trademark style (or stijl) of Mondrian. Or maybe they
just got a local artist to do one. Let's face it, it's an easy
style to imitate.
* Andy Warhol: Pop artist famous for using icons from American
everyday life (like Campbell's soup cans) in his art. Warhol
was multimedia before that term went into mainstream usage. He
has created some of the weirdest movies ever made (one was an
eight-hour flick of a man sleeping) and has some sort of
connection with the Velvet Underground. Warhol's most
impressive work of art may have been his own life, which he made
the focal point of an almost constant media circus. Warhol is
the man credited with saying, "Everyone will be famous for
fifteen minutes." Evidently, the rule didn't apply to himself,
since he was famous for years and is still well-known today.
* Leonardo Da Vinci: A Renaissance man, literally and
figuratively. Listed here because the four-armed four-legged
man is from a drawing of Da Vinci's.
* Salvador Dali: Another surrealist painter. One of Homer's
dreams shows the melting watches from "The Persistence of
Memory."
* Christo: Lisa names this artist. Like she says, he's famous
for wrapping things. Once, he surrounded an island with
hundreds of square yards of plastic sheeting -- it just floated
around the shoreline like a pink pool cover. Yeah, I don't get
it either, but Christo says the idea is to get art out of
museums and out into the world where people can appreciate it.
Recently, he even managed to span the Pacific Ocean, installing
giant yellow umbrellas both in California, as Lisa said, and in
Japan. Sadly, some people were killed when a storm loosed some
of the California umbrellas from their moorings.
* Matt Groening: Subversive cartoonist, and the man behind "Life
in Hell." Groening was actually trained as a writer, not an
artist, and so his work relies more on witty dialog and sharp
satire than on his almost sketchy artwork.
[*] But not made fun of, and therefore not referenced per se.
>> Portrait of Car Watch
Real cars seen in this episode:
* An orange VW Old Beetle dodges Homer's runaway grille/art
project.
* Not so lucky was Astrid Weller's black BMW, which most resembles
a 1980's vintage 5-series.
* Before Homer entertains his Euro-trash friends, we can see a
green Jaguar XJ-S in front of Moe's Tavern.
--
Benjamin Robinson bj...@freenet.tlh.fl.us
This message may or may not contain sarcastic content; your burden to decide
"Must ... control ... fist ... of ... death." -- Alice
Dale G. Abersold
> * Christo: Lisa names this artist. Like she says, he's famous
> for wrapping things. Once, he surrounded an island with
> hundreds of square yards of plastic sheeting -- it just floated
> around the shoreline like a pink pool cover. Yeah, I don't get
> it either, but Christo says the idea is to get art out of
> museums and out into the world where people can appreciate it.
I lived in Berlin when the long Reichstag project was nearing its end
(Christo and his wife had begun planning the project in 1971). There
was quite a bit of political opposition to it: If I recall correctly,
it was the (then) ruling Christian Democrats who were primarily
opposed. Finally in June 1995 they wrapped the building up. Christo
definitely succeeded in getting people to come out and see art for
themselves: 5 million people came to look at "Wrapped Reichstag,
Berlin 1971-1995" (as the artwork was officially named).
Unfortunately, that was three years after I left Berlin. D'oh!
Dale G. Abersold
dal...@hotmail.com
http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Academy/7309
Ben Collins
(Benjamin Robinson) wrote:
>* Christo: Lisa names this artist. Like she says, he's famous
> for wrapping things. Once, he surrounded an island with
> hundreds of square yards of plastic sheeting -- it just floated
> around the shoreline like a pink pool cover. Yeah, I don't get
> it either, but Christo says the idea is to get art out of
> museums and out into the world where people can appreciate it.
> Recently, he even managed to span the Pacific Ocean, installing
> giant yellow umbrellas both in California, as Lisa said, and in
> Japan. Sadly, some people were killed when a storm loosed some
> of the California umbrellas from their moorings.
The California umbrellas were put up in September-October, 1992 (I think). As
any Southern Californian knows, that's the Santa Ana/Brush Fire season, where
powerful, hot, dry desert winds add to the already dangerous fuel of dried
brush from the spring and summer to cause fires. At least one person, a woman
from Camarillo, CA, was killed when an umbrella struck her. The umbrellas were
promptly taken down.
/---------------------------------------\
| Ben Collins szy...@worldnet.att.net |
| "Marge, it takes two to lie. |
| One to lie, and one to listen." |
| - Homer Jay Simpson |
\---------------------------------------/