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Art
Art
Artwork Khrushchev Probably Would Not Have Liked 59
Remember my rule for this series? The artwork in question had to be made during Khrushchev's lifetime. Well, I thought 1968 was too late. But no! Nikita lived till 1971.The artist's Wikipedia page.
Posted By: Paul - Tue Nov 12, 2024 -
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Category: Art, Avant Garde, Television, Self-referentiality, Circularity, and Endless Loops, 1960s, Russia
Art—People—Feelings
The heyday of the "Let's all groove together" utopianism.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Nov 06, 2024 -
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Category: Art, PSA’s, Bohemians, Beatniks, Hippies and Slackers, 1970s
Nixon drinks Gevalia coffee
Aug 1971: Posters appeared around Stockholm showing U.S. President Richard Nixon drinking a cup of coffee. They appeared to be ads for Gevalia coffee — though it seemed odd that Nixon would do an ad for Gevalia.
image source: moderna museet
According to Google Translate, "Gevalia dricks mest" means "Gevalia is drunk the most"
It turned out that the posters were the work of artist Kjartan Slettemark. He had combined an image of a hand holding a coffee cup, taken from an actual Gevalia ad, with a photo of Nixon distributed by the U.S. embassy. The posters were apparently a satirical commentary on the recent acquisition of Gevalia by an American company.
Indianapolis Star - Aug 6, 1971
The auction house Bukowskis offers some more details about Slettemark's hoax:
In 1971, Kjartan Slettemark came across a campaign poster featuring Nixon's portrait, innocently sent out by the American embassy. It hung on the studio wall for a few weeks when one day he asked for an advertisement poster for Gevalia coffee that he had seen at his local shop. The advertisement image showed a smiling woman lifting a coffee cup. When he cut out the woman's hand and placed it on the Nixon image, the size, colour, and lighting matched perfectly. He immediately wanted to print the work as a poster but could not afford the printing himself. He added the text "Moderna Museet - Open every day 12 - 22" and submitted it for printing at the press used by Moderna Museet. The poster was printed, and the bill was sent to Moderna Museet. The next morning, Stockholm's advertising pillars were filled with Nixon posters. Moderna Museet reacted and wrote a letter to the artist prohibiting him from selling or distributing the image. Despite this, the image continued to appear around the city. Kjartan Slettemark continued to work with the image, cutting away the museum's text and making it even more similar to Gevalia's campaign image. The fake Gevalia poster was political art. A protest against the US war in Vietnam and against American imperialism. In 1971, the Gävle company Gevalia had been acquired by the multinational corporation General Foods – thus finding itself on the enemy's side. The story continues as the advertising text is cut away and gradually develops into the collage series "Nixon Visions," where the president's face is distorted in various ways.
Three years later, Slettemark returned to Nixon as a subject. Slettemark applied for a new passport, but instead of submitting a picture of himself he used an altered picture of Nixon. The passport authorities accepted it. Images and text below from Cabinet magazine (Spring 2009):
Posted By: Alex - Sat Nov 02, 2024 -
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Category: Art, Politics, Coffee and other Legal Stimulants, 1970s
The First Living Work of Art
In 1961, German artist Timm Ulrichs put himself on display inside a glass case and called himself the "first living work of art" (erstes lebendes Kunstwerk). He repeated this performance at various times throughout his career.
Artmap.com explains: "Instead of found objects, Ulrichs uses his own body. A simple and simultaneously great idea: whereas with Duchamp the producer and the work were still separated, in the case of Timm Ulrichs, the artist and the work are one and the same."
A "great idea" is one way to describe it.
Some more examples of Ulrich's art:
In 1962, Timm Ulrichs signed his own body. His name was engraved as a tattoo on his upper arm.
In 1963, he tracked his heartbeat with a stethoscope. He broadcast it on a loudspeaker and exhibited the medical record as a musical score.
In 1966, Timm Ulrichs showed the tanning of his skin as a filmic process for the first time. The covered, untanned areas of his back, in contrast to the tanned areas, slowly reveal the word “Hautfilm” [skin film].
In 1969, Timm Ulrichs became a sperm donor at the Bremen sperm bank – ironically referring to Walter Benjamin’s essay “The Work of Art in the Age of its Technological Reproducibility”.
In 1973, Timm Ulrichs ate for one year according to the average consumption of Germans, precisely observing the consumption of milk, bread, and cigarettes. Four cigarettes a day.
In 1978, using professional police equipment, Timm Ulrichs had a facial composite of his own face made.
In 1963, he tracked his heartbeat with a stethoscope. He broadcast it on a loudspeaker and exhibited the medical record as a musical score.
In 1966, Timm Ulrichs showed the tanning of his skin as a filmic process for the first time. The covered, untanned areas of his back, in contrast to the tanned areas, slowly reveal the word “Hautfilm” [skin film].
In 1969, Timm Ulrichs became a sperm donor at the Bremen sperm bank – ironically referring to Walter Benjamin’s essay “The Work of Art in the Age of its Technological Reproducibility”.
In 1973, Timm Ulrichs ate for one year according to the average consumption of Germans, precisely observing the consumption of milk, bread, and cigarettes. Four cigarettes a day.
In 1978, using professional police equipment, Timm Ulrichs had a facial composite of his own face made.
Posted By: Alex - Mon Oct 28, 2024 -
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Category: Art, Body, 1960s
Monument to the Unelected
The front yard of a Phoenix home displays campaigns signs of major candidates who have lost a presidential election, including failed candidates of yesteryear such as James G. Blaine and Winfield Hancock.The signs are the work of artist Nina Katchadourian who calls it the "Monument to the Unelected." She's been creating it (and finding homes to host it) every presidential election cycle since 2008. On her website she explains:
Each sign was made in a design vernacular that could have come from any time in the past few decades, even if it advertised a candidate from a previous century. At a time when the country was preoccupied with the "fork in the road" moment of a major national election, the piece presented a view of the country's collective political road not taken.
More info: smoca.org, AZFamily.com
Posted By: Alex - Sat Oct 26, 2024 -
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Category: Art, Politics, Signage
1000 Cigarettes
Plexiglas book. Pages are laminated with collage elements embedded. Collage elements comprised of debris from smoking 50 packages, a total of 1000, of Camel cigarettes including cigarette butts, match-book covers, burnt matches, ashes, and smoke. Book is Coptic bound with various colored threads. The front cover of the book is laser-etched with the title; the back cover is laser-etched with the name of the press. Dimensions: Book 29 x 22.5 x 6 cm. Container/box 32 x 25.5 x 9 cm. Unique, one-of-a-kind.
The box cover and internal tray are made by Mark Wagner. The cover is collaged from 1/4-inch slivers cut from packages of Camel cigarettes. These cut slivers are reconstructed to form the image of the camel and desert landscape as they appear on the package of Camel cigarettes.
Source.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Oct 24, 2024 -
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Category: Art, Fey, Twee, Whimsical, Naive and Sadsack, Ineptness, Crudity, Talentlessness, Kitsch, and Bad Art, Books, Smoking and Tobacco, Twenty-first Century
The Peanut Butter Painting
Inspired by peanut farmer Jimmy Carter becoming President, in 1977 Owensboro artist C.G. "Moose" Morehead used peanut butter to paint a picture of a barn — mixing the peanut butter (Jif) with oil colors. Morehead called it the "Peanut Butter Painting."It's believed that this was the first time peanut butter was used as the medium for a painting. Jimmy Carter later signed the painting. And due to the interest in the painting, 2000 limited-edition prints were made of it, some of which can now be found on eBay. Though the prints obviously contain no peanut butter.
The Peanut Butter Painting
Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer - Feb 24, 1977
Posted By: Alex - Wed Oct 23, 2024 -
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Category: Art, 1970s
An Optical Poem
Creator's Wikipedia entry here.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Oct 21, 2024 -
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Category: Art, Avant Garde, Movies, Stop-motion Animation, Music, 1930s
Artwork Khrushchev Probably Would Not Have Liked 58
Posted By: Paul - Mon Oct 14, 2024 -
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Category: Art, Retail Establishments, 1920s
Beer can art mistaken for trash
A recent case of art mistaken for trash. Details from Artnet news:The LAM museum in Lisse, the Netherlands,... recently found one of its artworks in the trash, accidentally thrown out by an elevator technician who mistook it for garbage.
At first glance, Alexandre Lavet’s All the good times we spent together by (2016) appear to be a pair of empty beer cans, drunk and discarded, one slightly crushed. But closer inspection reveals that these weren’t regular beer cans—and Lavet is no readymade artist.
Instead, he meticulously hand painted the cans, creating two perfect replicas of cans of Jupiler beer. Lavet intended the piece as a tribute to memories of good times spent with friends.
The worker responsible for throwing out the art was filling in for the museum’s regular technician. That meant he wasn’t familiar with the works in the museum’s collection, which it advertises as the world’s largest museum collection of food art.
He also probably didn’t realize that the LAM museum takes delight in stashing artworks in unexpected, unconventional places. All the good times was behind glass, but not in a traditional vitrine. Instead, it could be seen inside the elevator shaft, as if it had been left behind by construction workers’ knocking off after their shifts.
At first glance, Alexandre Lavet’s All the good times we spent together by (2016) appear to be a pair of empty beer cans, drunk and discarded, one slightly crushed. But closer inspection reveals that these weren’t regular beer cans—and Lavet is no readymade artist.
Instead, he meticulously hand painted the cans, creating two perfect replicas of cans of Jupiler beer. Lavet intended the piece as a tribute to memories of good times spent with friends.
The worker responsible for throwing out the art was filling in for the museum’s regular technician. That meant he wasn’t familiar with the works in the museum’s collection, which it advertises as the world’s largest museum collection of food art.
He also probably didn’t realize that the LAM museum takes delight in stashing artworks in unexpected, unconventional places. All the good times was behind glass, but not in a traditional vitrine. Instead, it could be seen inside the elevator shaft, as if it had been left behind by construction workers’ knocking off after their shifts.
Posted By: Alex - Wed Oct 09, 2024 -
Comments (3)
Category: Art
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