Fashion becomes Art
Nikolaus Maack
> As one art commentator asked just about a year ago, "has Art
> run out of anything to say?"
The other day I was in a magazine store, flipping through stuff in the
art section. I came across something that struck me as absolutely
brilliant. Someone had painted a 3 foot by 6 foot copy of a cash
register receipt -- an exact duplicate of the sort of dot-matrix print
out receipt we see every day, with "THANK YOU!" in big letters across
the top and then the details of the sale down below.
It struck me as very funny, and an interesting comment on modern life.
That the artist chose to reproduce something so typical and mundane, but
in such a grand scale -- hilarious!
Mani might disagree with me on this one, but Mani never struck me as
having much of a sense of humour.
Babs Boone
says...
>I see that the Royal Academy of Arts is exhibiting
>"Armani, a retrospective"
>http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/?lid=940
Oh my! Do you think Gucci et al will be next?
Too many moons ago to recall fully, there was
a wonderful 'competitive' showing of 'blue denim'
art that I attended at the Palace of Legion of Honor
in San Francisco. It was at the time in the late 60s
when all the fad for USA-style denim was taking
the world by storm. Much of the "art" consisted
of highly decorated denim jackets, pants etc with
beads, baubles and ornate stitchery. As someone
who dared not attend class in anything other than
official "Levis" in my youth, or risk being the
subject of ridicule by my schoolmates, I appreciated the
show probably more than most. And guess what?
Even though it no longer fits I still own a
suit made by Levi in the '70s - hoping someone
in Japan might one day purchase it for a princely sum!
Mani Deli
<nikm...@sympatico.ca> wrote:
>Mani might disagree with me on this one, but Mani never struck me as
>having much of a sense of humour.
>
> Nik
>http://www.nikart.ca
Nik has a sense of humor but little else.
Tired of Modern Art? check
http://www3.sympatico.ca/manideli/
Mani Deli
>We are all familiar with fashion, regarding clothes.
>There is no attempt at a narrative, no attempt to express
>or comment on anything,
I guess this guy never saw a fashion magazine.
> it's just a fad thing. Today's
>clothes are tomorrow's rags.
the finest clothes are in museums and the rise of interest in
classical clothing is in part due to the boredom of tomorrow's garbage
called modern art.
>And it's a solid comment on what is happening and has
>happened to Art.
>
>As one art commentator asked just about a year ago, "has Art
>run out of anything to say?"
>
Modern Academic Art did that after the demise of Dada.
Nikolaus Maack
> Nik has a sense of humor but little else.
That made me laugh out loud -- so maybe there's hope for your sense of
humour yet.
:)
What do you think about the artwork I described -- the giant
reproduction of a cash-register receipt? I assume it took skill to
make, so you must adore it.
Lauri Levanto
Thur wrote:
>
> I see that the Royal Academy of Arts is exhibiting
> "Armani, a retrospective"
> http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/?lid=940
Why not?
Most art history books have a large section of architecture. It is
traditionally considered art.
Many craft items are regarded as art. Art need not be useless.
There is "pure art" and "applied art", the latter covering crafts from
furniture to jevelry. Why should one be so narrowminded
that one cannot appreciate a good design,
combined in Armani case with extreme SKILL of tailors.
If the craft of copying a landscape on canvasin traditional manner is
art
why not the craft of skillfully cut suit?
>
> That is, that fashion can be Art, and Art can be Fashion.
"Fashionable" has always been an aspect of art appreciation.
J.S:Bach was criticied by his contemporaries that
he did not compose in'the gallant style' of Lully
that was in fashin then.
> And it's a solid comment on what is happening and has
> happened to Art.
Yes, it has happened all the time.
Cellini's salt bowl was an utility object and is appreciated as art.
> As one art commentator asked just about a year ago, "has Art
> run out of anything to say?"
to those that do not bother to listen?
-lauri
Erik A. Mattila
Did you ever see that Finnish guy's web site - who made a suit from
birch bark. I wish I could find it, but my Finnish language skills
don't exist to do a search. I saw it when a Finn posted the URL for me
to look at in the soc.culture.nordic ng about 4 years ago. It was
pretty humorous, but the man was obviously (and rightly) proud of his
hard work. He made a birch bark hat to go with it.
Erik
>
Thur
> Most art history books have a large section of architecture. It is
> traditionally considered art.
> Many craft items are regarded as art. Art need not be useless.
>
most of it [20th Century]seems to dehumanise by it's scale, and
lack of texture on anything but a grand scale.
I agree that some utilitarian items have and could rise above their
original purpose so that they are placed in a box labelled "art".
The salt bowl is one example.
Art is Something. It is and has been throughout time, a visual and
for some an intellectual joy.
If you get joy at looking at old costumes which are held in museums,
then ok, I can appreciate that, but calling it a word that is used to
describe some of the best paintings there are is hijacking the word.
If art is about something which even we recognise is a throwaway
medium, that is made for your Spring Collection, for example, then
that is the level to which art has sunk. Indeed, is that not the level to
which Western Culture in general has sunk? A throwaway valueless
and inconsequential era where nothing can be cherished unless it
is new, and suspect if any real craft and time has been spent upon it.
What about art that can be cherished down the ages?
>J.S:Bach was criticied by his contemporaries that
> he did not compose in'the gallant style' of Lully
Yes and I have heard a modern critic that complain he did not "push"
his art, but developed it in the style of the day!
Let us hope that we are not bequeathing Punk Rock or industrial noise to
future generations, rather than something more substantial, with values
that will be recognised.
I notice that most of today's 'music' has to be turned up so loud that
one cannot experience any joy, only a physical vibration, and one
leading to physical deafness.
> > As one art commentator asked just about a year ago, "has Art
> > run out of anything to say?"
>
> to those that do not bother to listen?
I am listening. I hear nothing from today's exhibits. I am not deaf just
yet.
Armani - he is trying to 'say' something is he? Like what?
Thur.
"Lauri Levanto" <laur...@netti.fi> wrote in message
news:3F8E44E7...@netti.fi...
Babs Boone
>Did you ever see that Finnish guy's web site - who made a suit from
>birch bark.
I challenge anyone anywhere to make more
colorful and artful clothing from natural
occurring materials than the ancient peoples.
Luckily there are examples extant from some
of these cultures, and there were artists
around at the close of the Westward Expansion
in the USA who were able to document the
various colors - which photography could not
do at the time.
As for being the most able "designers" - I'd
vote that award to the Incans - (ancient Peruvians).
Some of their feathered garments, as well as
the ones woven from yarn - are in colors that most
"westerners" find pleasingly coordinated. Navajo
weavings are in that same category, IMO. Did you
know that it was the men in the tribe who once
did all the weaving? Most latter-day ideas have
the women sitting at the looms in Navajo culture.
Lauri Levanto
Thur wrote:
>...
> I agree that some utilitarian items have and could rise above their
> original purpose so that they are placed in a box labelled "art".
> The salt bowl is one example.
I believe the best crafts can rise *within their original purpose* to art.
>
> Art is Something. It is and has been throughout time, a visual and
> for some an intellectual joy.
>
Art is not part of the entertainment industry.
Visual or intellectual challenge, yes.
>
> If you get joy at looking at old costumes which are held in museums,
> then ok, I can appreciate that, but calling it a word that is used to
> describe some of the best paintings there are is hijacking the word.
English is not my native language, so I maybe wrong.
The word art is used as 'martial arts', the art of motorcycle maintenance etc.
Any rock guitarrist is an artist. The word is not reserved for paintings and
sculpture.
>
> If art is about something which even we recognise is a throwaway
> medium, that is made for your Spring Collection, for example, then
> that is the level to which art has sunk.
Permanent medium is not essential of art.
Most ancient Greek paintings have vanished, but I see no reason to believe
that they were less art than vases that remain.
By the way, can you afford to throw away an Armani after every season :-?
> I... and suspect if any real craft and time has been spent upon it.>...
> Armani - he is trying to 'say' something is he? Like what?
Isn't he saying something about the real craft and time spent over a piece?
-lauri
Lauri Levanto
"Erik A. Mattila" wrote:
> Did you ever see that Finnish guy's web site - who made a suit from
> birch bark. I wish I could find it, but my Finnish language skills
> don't exist to do a search. I saw it when a Finn posted the URL for me
> to look at in the soc.culture.nordic ng about 4 years ago. It was
> pretty humorous, but the man was obviously (and rightly) proud of his
> hard work. He made a birch bark hat to go with it.
>
> Erik
>
You mailed me the URL then, but I didi not save it.
My google search revealed a Russian museum which has a suit made
of birch bark - no picture. It is not the same reference.
-lauri
Mike Stengl
>
> Did you ever see that Finnish guy's web site - who made a suit from
> birch bark. I wish I could find it, but my Finnish language skills
> don't exist to do a search. I saw it when a Finn posted the URL for me
> to look at in the soc.culture.nordic ng about 4 years ago. It was
> pretty humorous, but the man was obviously (and rightly) proud of his
> hard work. He made a birch bark hat to go with it.
>
> Erik
>
> >
saw the opposite at a university student art show. was a six foot tall
piece of wood, left natural, curvy and such with a "skin-tight"
leather 'cat-suit' sewn expertly from trunk to (approximately) neck
level. made me smile and chuckle and i HAD to give it a stroke. one
thing i particularly liked about this kind of art (in a selfish way)
is that, as a 'painter' i didn't feel threatened in any competitive
way like i can be by another painters technical abilities...
Erik A. Mattila
That's too bad. It reminded me of a lot of other crazy stuff people do,
when they get inspired. Like the "Button Man" who covered everything in
buttons - house, car, self (some of it was very attractive)- or the guy
who rolled up the largest ball of string - but the best...I mean the
breakthrough from craft to high art, was Simon Rodia, who just couldn't
seem to control himself.
http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Watts_Towers.html
http://www.arts.ufl.edu/art/rt_room/watts/tower2.html
I grew up around the Watts Towers. Let me tell you, they are very
awesome, and they are works of art in the fullest sense. At one point
they were declared a safety hazard, and Los Angeles county tried to pull
them down, and failed.
Erik
>
>
Erik A. Mattila
> x-no-archive: yes
> Ideal spot for someone with a sniper's rifle?
> :-)
> Thur
As in Buneul's "Phantom of Liberty?" No, that was the Eifel tower.
What film was it that had a shoot out on the Watts Towers? I can't
remember.
Erik
>
> "Erik A. Mattila" <emat...@oco.net> wrote in message
> news:3F8F937E...@oco.net...
>
>>snip
Babs Boone
>As in Buneul's "Phantom of Liberty?" No, that was the Eifel tower.
>What film was it that had a shoot out on the Watts Towers? I can't
>remember.
>
>Erik
Did you know that the tower top at UT Austin has
been secured against visitors ever since the
first of the mass-murder sniper events occurred
there? I don't know if was reopened a couple
of years ago or not, but that possibility was
being discussed. If you don't remember the
incident, try a search on "Charles Whitman."
And here is a gruesome fact - there is an
electronic game that has a popular world-wide
following that is named "UT SNIPER!"
Erik A. Mattila
Gawd, that's awful. I had forgotten about that one, though. I saw an
excellent documentary about that sniper not too long ago on TV.
In Bunuels film, which played everything off in the opposite way you
would expect, the Eifel Tower sniper shot several Parisians, was
arrested and went to trial. He was found guilty, but then everyone came
up to him in the court and congratulated him, cheering him on. He
picked up his briefcase and left the courthouse, a free man who had
escaped imprisonment by being found guilty.
Xellent film.
Erik
>
>
Babs Boone
>>I don't know if was reopened a couple
>> of years ago or not
A bit of research on the web found that the
observation deck was reopened for public viewing
in 1998, but not before reinforcing it against
suicide attempts and putting full-time armed
guards on duty there.
>but then everyone came
>up to him in the court and congratulated him, cheering him on.
Hmmmm. He'd find a lot of supporters among the
anti-French enthusiasts in the USA right now, I suspect.
troika boika
Those Watts Towers are WONDERFUL!!! Thank you so much for posting those links.
troika boika
troika boika
Those Watts Towers are WONDERFUL!!! Thank you so much for posting those links.
troika boika
Erik A. Mattila
You're welcome. I think they are wonderful too. I was about 10 years
old when I first saw them, and they really affected me.
Erik
Babs Boone
>You're welcome. I think they are wonderful too. I was about 10 years
>old when I first saw them, and they really affected me.
>
>Erik
I recall reading an article some years ago
about either these same towers, or another
similar site. The article was about how
corroded the steel lattice work had become
beneath the concrete coating. The current
photos appear to show bare steel devoid of
concrete. Just curious if the Watts Towers
are the same that I am recalling. If so, I
assume a major conservation project saved them.
BTW, in Austin they have Moonlight Towers around
the older parts of the city - downtown area etc.
They aren't art but they do have that rather
arty name - moonlight towers. Dating from the
late 19th century, they are still in use today
albeit with updated lumen systems.
http://www.mei1inc.com/AustinMnLtwr.htm
Erik A. Mattila
> In article <3F923230...@oco.net>, emat...@oco.net says...
>
>
>>You're welcome. I think they are wonderful too. I was about 10 years
>>old when I first saw them, and they really affected me.
>>
>>Erik
>
>
> I recall reading an article some years ago
> about either these same towers, or another
> similar site. The article was about how
> corroded the steel lattice work had become
> beneath the concrete coating. The current
> photos appear to show bare steel devoid of
> concrete. Just curious if the Watts Towers
> are the same that I am recalling. If so, I
> assume a major conservation project saved them.
http://www.nationaltrust.org/magazine/archives/arch_story/082901.htm
All Along the Watts Towers
L.A.'s mended outsider spectacle still turns heads.
Story by Kerri Westenberg / August 29, 2001
Watts, Calif.—Long before the race riots, Sabato "Simon" Rodia led a
one-man insurrection in this south-central Los Angeles community. The
Italian laborer's glittering back-yard spires, reaching as high as 100
feet into the sky, turned the notion of art on its ear and left city
inspectors scratching their heads. Amassed from 1921 to 1954, Watts
Towers drew thousands of visitors to this forlorn neighborhood. Then age
and a 1994 earthquake made hazards of the amalgamations of steel rods
and rings coated with mortar and embedded with ceramic plates and cups,
shells, 7up bottles, and other discarded scrap that caught Rodia's eye.
Closed for seven years and carefully mended, the Watts Towers will
reopen to the public amid hoopla on Sept. 28.
Rodia (c. 1879-1965) might have been amazed by the imminent fuss. A
laborer at a tile factory by day, he built his colossal work during
evenings and weekends next to his house on the last lot on a dead-end
street. By all accounts, he worked alone and with no greater purpose
than to make his vision real.
Maybe he started by jazzing up his chimney (the house burned down long
ago, but the chimney still stands). Day by day, year by year, his work
multiplied to 15 tightly spaced sculptures, among them a ship, a
barbecue, a gazebo with built-in birdbaths, enclosing walls, and five
towers. To shape finials on the towers and a gazebo, he used colanders,
pots and pans, and a bowling ball. Rodia built in stages: He made the
towers with interlocking rings, letting lower levels dry before climbing
them like ladders to build higher and higher. He used no power tools or
nails; he worked from no drawn plans.
Saving one man's powerful vision from destruction requires a small army.
Among the towers’ nemeses were vandals who chipped away at the
structure; unqualified restorers hired by the city in the mid-1970s;
erosion that undermined the towers'stability; and, of course,
earthquakes. On a recent sunny day a city curator, three workmen, a
conservator, and a structural engineer walk among the structures. A man
on his hands and knees uses a hand tool to smooth a groove in the
pavement caused when the soil settled unevenly underneath. He'll inject
concrete below the flooring to level the ground. The conservator,
Zuleyma Aguirre, discusses with engineer Mel Green methods for
reinforcing a wall, weakened since termites ate an interior wooden pole.
The decision: Break into the wall from the outside, which has fewer
decorations than the interior surface, and replace the wood with a steel
post on a wide foot planted below the sidewalk.
Conservation has been going on since the state assumed ownership in
1978. The 1994 North Ridge earthquake caused fractures that required
more urgent attention. Those repairs, such as reinforcing both towers
and flying buttresses with interior steel rods and resecuring loose
tiles, cost $2 million.
Care was taken to make the repairs without harming the artistic
integrity of the structures. Every square foot was mapped. "When we take
some of the decoration off to get to the metal bars inside, we return
each piece of glass and pottery to its exact location," says Mark
Greenfield, director of the Watts Towers Arts Center, which will oversee
public tours of Rodia's work. "Where we have lost a piece of decoration,
we can’t replace it because that would compromise the artistic integrity
of the piece. Would you put a nose on the Sphinx?"
When the towers were works in progress, most people didn’t know what to
make of the overgrown back-yard project. In 1948, inspectors from the
city building and safety department asked Rodia why he was building
them. He claimed they were an homage to California highways: The tallest
was 101 feet in honor of Highway 101; another was 99 feet for Highway
99; a third was 66 feet for Highway 66, he lied. The inspectors took no
further action. Rodia often responded to questions about his motivation
with a simple, if accented, reply: "I want to do something big."
By the time Rodia deeded the property to neighbors and retired to
northern California in 1955, he had succeeded. And so have many other
grassroots artists. Whether labeled naive, folk, grassroots, or
outsider, their work is today recognized as art.
City curator Virginia Ernst Kazor considers Rodia's work "a monument to
what one human being can do if he puts his mind to it day after day."
She anticipates as many as 25,000 visitors a year. Kazor, Greenfield,
and others hope the traffic will pay off for the neighborhood. This
community of 34,000, 55 percent of them living in poverty, may be
disadvantaged, Greenfield says, "but it's not the hotbed of rebellion it
is reputed to be."
Kazor looks across the street from the towers at simple, shotgun-style
houses and sees potential: "I can see these houses as a café, a
bookstore, or homes for artists in residence," she says. In her eye,
conservation of the towers is only a start.
Kerri Westenberg lives in Santa Monica, Calif.
Babs Boone
>All Along the Watts Towers
>L.A.'s mended outsider spectacle still turns heads.
>Story by Kerri Westenberg / August 29, 2001
Must surely be the same I asked about.
As I'm sure you're aware, there are any number
of similar eccentrics out there who have made
life-long pursuits of architectural oddities.
I'll have to do a bit of research on the web
to see if I can find some of the others I have
fleeting knowledge of. Do you think one could
include reknowned artists such as Christo,
Robert Smithson and James Turrel in that category?
That is, are they just as eccentric as Rodia was?
Babs Boone
Another eccentric who has turned fantasy
into reality - and a tourist attraction:
Babs Boone
While browsing for Jim Bishop and his castle,
I came across this reference to another "artiste:"
Folk Art Junk Yard
Trinidad, CO
On the north side of US 160 at the east end of town you'll find the property of
Mario Benedetti, age 84. It's easy to spot. Paintings of horses and Indians
hang on the fence that encircles it. Beyond, weird poles painted in endless
combinations of red, blue, and yellow, and surrounded by rusting auto parts and
other scary- looking slabs of metal, beckon.
Mario has been painting for 70 years, he explains as he opens building after
building packed with framed oils of more horses and Indians -- hundreds of
them. "I sell anything I can," he insists, though he obviously hasn't recently.
Mario refuses to exhibit his works at shows. "They bang the frames," he
complains (and he has a right to -- he carves them). Thus, the only people who
can buy Mario's work are the people who come out to nowhere Trinidad, Colorado.
He has fans in New Mexico ("People from Santa Fe -- Tin, if it's painted,
they'll buy it.") but apparently not enough. Trinidad's government is forcing
him to clean up his yard and, he insists -- "a lot of my stuff has been carted
away." That's hard to picture, since there's so much stuff still here, but
you'd probably do best to get out here quick.
[1999 Update: Mario and his folk art are reportedly gone, or at least very hard
to find...]
At the local Loaf And Jug quick-mart, we buy several novelty packages of "Love
Gum, a full-potency gum to increase romantic power." The quick-mart, we note,
is only a mile or so from St. Vincent's of Trinidad, the nation's number one
sex-change hospital.
Erik A. Mattila
It seems different to me. Cristo et al were official "artists" and I
don't think Rodia thought of himself that way. The only thing I've ever
seen that has the look and feel of Rodia's work is Antonio Gaudi's
contribution ot "La Sagrada Familia" in Barcelona.
http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Sagrada_Familia.html
It's possible that Rodia was aware of Gaudi's work.
I was trying to remember that guy who built the underground home near
Fresno, Ca. Ah, yes, The Forestiere Underground Gardens.
http://www.roadtripamerica.com/places/forest.htm
Another Italian, too.
But the Latvian immigrant Edward Leedskalnin built the Coral Castle in
florida, not to be outdone. http://www.agilitynut.com/coralcastle.html
>
>
>
>
>
Babs Boone
>But the Latvian immigrant Edward Leedskalnin built the Coral Castle in
>florida, not to be outdone. http://www.agilitynut.com/coralcastle.html
When driving about in Canada's Alberta province
once, I came upon a house walled with milk of
magnesia bottles. It wasn't advertised and I
hadn't expected to see it, but there it was.
I can only imagine the effect on the interior of
all that blue light! Not that collecting milk
of magnesium bottles is anything unusual. Seems
they are used by quite a few folks who like the
blue color and use the bottle as yard ornaments.
If I can find the photo in my files, I'll post
a picture of a "skull tree" that I came upon in
rural Idaho. I seem to recall the bleached white
skulls - hundreds of them - were interspersed
with the blue bottles.
Here's another question related to the one about
"eccentricities." When does "folk art" become
folk art? Is it the artist's lack of education in
the arts that qualifies - or is it simply the
naive quality that counts. If the latter, then what's
to stop any reknowned artist from becoming a naive
folk artist - Philip Guston's late works jump to mind?
Babs Boone
>I was trying to remember that guy who built the underground home near
>Fresno, Ca. Ah, yes, The Forestiere Underground Gardens.
>http://www.roadtripamerica.com/places/forest.htm
>Another Italian, too.
AHA! This is a new one on me, but the minute I
saw he was Sicilian I knew the origin of his
ideas. There are deep limestone quarries (latamae) in
Sicily, most notably in the Syracusa area (on
the SE coast). These quarries date from Greek
and Roman times and supplied much of the limestone
used in various ancient constructions/sculptures.
In any event, particularly in Syracusa, these old
quarries are now public parks, set in rather fantastic
settings at the base of sheer "cliff faces" left
there by the ancient quarrying operations. Very
much like Forestiere's gardens, some are enclosed
in "shafts" - walled on four sides with connecting
"tunnels." Also, Sicily's mild
climate would be very similar to Fresno's. Perhaps
warmer.
(I am familiar with the coral garden - but have
never been there)
Agathena
Hi Erik,
The North West Coast Natives made clothing from the inner bark of cedar
for ions. There are a lot of photos of their hats, capes, dresses etc.
if you do a search on The Haida, for example.
It was tightly woven and kept them warm and dry. So the birch bark suit
is so new that it is ancient.
I wouldn't mind a cedar cape right now as we got 139 ml of rain in one
day last week. Guess I will have to settle for goretex.
Marilyn
Erik A. Mattila
Hi, Marilyn,
Yeah, I've seen some of that cedar clothing, and yes, I've heard about
your rains...pretty awesome... I mean it's about 90 outside, and there
are about 80 acres of sprinklers watering a new planting.
But the Birchbark is a bit of a different technology, as it's sheets not
wover fibre. The picture on that web sight was sort of funny because it
looked so uncomfortable...sort of like the "Tin Man" in Wizard of Oz.
Erik
>
Lauri Levanto
"Erik A. Mattila" wrote:
>
> Hi, Marilyn,
> Yeah, I've seen some of that cedar clothing, and yes, I've heard about
> your rains...pretty awesome... I mean it's about 90 outside, and there
> are about 80 acres of sprinklers watering a new planting.
>
> But the Birchbark is a bit of a different technology, as it's sheets not
> wover fibre. The picture on that web sight was sort of funny because it
> looked so uncomfortable...sort of like the "Tin Man" in Wizard of Oz.
>
> Erik
>
> Very much like Tinman, only with no flexible joints
-lauri
Babs Boone
>But the Birchbark is a bit of a different technology, as it's sheets not
>wover fibre.
I know a lady who has made a name in the
Santa Fe art scene (and other areas) with
her woven METAL fabrics. No - I don't think
she's used it for clothing - yet - but maybe
she has.
http://www.freefalldesigns.com/
The web site includes works of her husband
also. Notice that the "painting on copper" is
actually done on copper sheeting which she cuts
into strips and "weaves" into "cloth."
Agathena
There was a huge controversy when our National Gallery in Ottawa
exhibited a MEAT DRESS. Yes, it was made of pieces of steak stitched
together. It was on a model, as I don't imagine a human would want
to 'wear' it. (Ha ha, and along came a Grizzly Bear.)
MW