http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4117974.stm

[Adam]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4117974.stm

Hmm, need a rather large table saw for that!!!!

Adam

 

[Gill]

What a waste of time, materials, energy and space.

Gill

 

[thomaskennedy]

:sign3:

Ta, Tom :wink:

 

[Philly]

Adam
Ha! Yeah, saw that in the paper. :roll:
Like to see the workshop that was assembled in!!!
Cheers
Philly

 

[CHJ]

I'm with Gill on this one. What a warped world we live in that can make enough profit out of such 'Art' to pay for the materials let alone shipment from and to Italy. I can only hope that the local council tax is not footing part of the bill. I like a good read and appreciate the need for inspirational settings, but Shaws Corner or even Jilly Coopers garden just down the road from me have more apparent atmosphere for me.

 

[frank]

philly i think it was assembled in a corner of neils new workshop then floated over by tug boat

 

[Midnight]

What a waste of time, materials, energy and space.

my thoughts exactly...

 

[Jake]

I'll bet it is quite impressive in the flesh, as it were, and has a lot more impact than it does in a photograph. Not sure it means all that much, but then neither does the Mona Lisa, to me.

 

[chiba]

Brilliant in my opinion, which is what matters where art's concerned - your own personal opinion. Whatever anyone else thinks is their business. Love it or hate it, it gets a *reaction*.

 

[Anonymous]

I'm with chiba on this one. Great piece. If it doesn't make you really THINK, you've got a pretty closed mind, imo. Haven't any of you been to the Cass museum at Goodwood, or further afield to the de Cordoba in Lincoln MA? Many others to choose from inbetween if you only look. Open your minds, people; there's more to art than meets the eye...

[/rant off]

 

[Gill]

When you put it like that, Brian, it does make me think :-k .
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It makes me think that some people have forgotten the story of The Emperor's New Suit.

:wink:

Gill

 

[trevtheturner]

It does nothing for me at all.

But it did make me think. :-k :-k :-k All I could come up with was ............ I don't want to meet the guy who fits that chair when he's in a bad mood on a dark night! :roll: :lol: :lol:

Cheers,

Trev.

 

[chiba]

Gill - what would you rather we have? Art evolves. Even the old masters knew that - please don't condemn us to dogmatic stagnation. The entire point of the Rennaisance was that it was a change in thinking. Where's your historical line in the sand? At what point do you say that Art stopped, and that what came after became "The Emperor's New Suit"?

 

[trevtheturner]

Chiba,

You said it: it's your own personal opinion that matters where art is concerned, and that whatever anyone else thinks is their business.

Gill has expressed her perfectly valid personal opinion of the item in question without in any way suggesting that others should agree with her. How does that condemn you to dogmatic stagnation?

Art evolves? That's a matter of personal opinion too, isn't it? And we have seen some pretty weird examples of so called 'art' in recent years - just in my opinion! :wink:

Cheers,

Trev.

 

[Midnight]

If it doesn't make you really THINK, you've got a pretty closed mind, imo.

donno if you'd call it thinking... but this (and a bunch of similar "artworks") does get me wondering... WTF are these guys onnnnnnn.....????? What were they thinking when hit with the "heyy..... I reckon it'd be dead cool to build this huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugge...<insert as appropriate>...
Then there's the "experts" who laud this with praise... and worse... the public funds that pay for it...

cows pickled in resin and ran through a bandsaw...???? truck loads o bricks dumped in a car park...????? I always thought great art, like great music was something that inspired...

<shrugs..

maybe it's just me...

 

[chiba]

Chiba,
You said it: it's your own personal opinion that matters where art is concerned, and that whatever anyone else thinks is their business.

I have no problem at all with people liking or disliking whatever art they feel like - I only have an objection to attempts to exclude works like this desk from the definition thereof, or even worse claiming that they're in some way a "waste". That's the whole point! :x Without accepting that they're art in the first place, how can you like or dislike them?!

 

[Alf]

At least you can tell what it's meant to be...

Having said which, one of my favourites owned by my folks is supposed to be the coast somewhere-or-other, but you'd be quite entitled to say "Eh? How can you tell?" Don't ask me; greater minds than mine have tried to explain the meaning of Art and all that.

Cheers, Alf

 

[Jake]

Ok, one small thing it made me think about after reading the last few dismissive posts is that the huge scale of the item suggests that (at least some) writers tower over this world. Probably, when you are there on the Heath, this effect would be redoubled, as it would dominate nature (the heath) and the city of london spread out below. There's also some contrast between nature and the "unnatural" scale of the piece that would probably be interesting to think about more. Etc. You just have to use your mind.

This seems a much more interesting piece that the unmade bed or whatever.

 

[Gill]

To me, this sort of art doesn't introduce us to anything new. It's just somebody on an ego trip whose work has to be brought to public prominence to have any validity. I'm mindful of artists from the past such as Van Gogh and Lautrec who painted for the love of painting and whose works weren't appreciated until years after their deaths. There's also Henry Moore whose sculptures left me bemused but at least introduced a different form. Finally, there's Jackson Pollack whose work I thought to be hugely over rated but at least it was something that didn't need public prominence to validate.

I'm not an art historian (obviously), just trying to express my views on what I think makes good art. If an artist is relying on his piece generating an audience reaction, then I regard it as bad art. Let's face it, Adolf Hitler generated an audience reaction but I don't think many people would regard Auschwitz as a piece of art. If the artist is trying to create an expression of form which will give him personal satisfaction irrespective of the audience reaction, then I'd be much more likely to regard his efforts as good art.

A desk and chair is a desk and chair, whatever scale it is. To my mind it's not scale that makes the piece art, it's expression of form. I realise other people will disagree with me and I respect their right to disagree with me (even if I believe they must be off their rockers) because that's how mankind evolves into a more adaptive creature.

Incidentally, I think the Angel of the North is a magnificent creation, as is the Birmingham Bull Ring and the Debenhams store. I also think the joker who covered the Reichstag a few years ago with aluminium foil must have been having a laugh when he described it as 'art'.

Gill

 

[Guest]

I heard that someone has already put a reserved sign on it