Category:
Art

For Carl Andre

For Carl Andre is a 1970 artwork by Lynda Benglis. It consists of a heap of polyurethane foam sitting in the corner of a room. It's owned by the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.



The title refers to the sculptor Carl Andre, known for his ultra-minimalist works. For instance, one of Andre's more famous works, Equivalent VIII, consisted of a rectangular stack of bricks. The Fort Worth Art Museum catalog notes:

Benglis uses Andre's name in her piece, but the point she makes is not strictly pejorative. The work is an ironic and humorous homage to Andre's art, which is characteristically made of ordered, flat, modular shapes combined with simple slabs of metal or stone that sit directly on the floor or, like Benglis's piece, are installed in the corner.

So it's not "strictly pejorative," but maybe it's slightly so? Or satirical?

Posted By: Alex - Wed Feb 08, 2023 - Comments (3)
Category: Art, 1970s, Satire

The Senster

Explanatory text from Are Computers Alive? Evolution and New Life Forms, by Geoff Simons (1983).

A cybernetic sculpture, 'The Senster', was constructed by Edward Ihnatowicz in 1970 for the Philips Evoluon in Eindhoven. The device is a large electrohydraulic structure in the form of a lobster's claw: six hinged joints allow great freedom of movement. It is interesting that the device's unpredictable behaviour makes the observer feel that the sculpture is alive. Reichardt (1978) commented: 'It is as if behaviour were more important than appearance in making us feel that something is alive.' 'The Senster' has senses—sound channels (effective ears) and radar—to allow it to monitor its environment: it will, for example, react to the movement of people in the immediate vicinity. Electrical signals are fed from a control unit to activate mechanisms which cause movement in the device. The brain (a computer) has learning abilities and can modify the machine's behaviour in the light of past experience. Confronted by this artificial device, it is clear that people have no difficulty in organizing their psychological responses as if 'The Senster' were alive—an animal or another human being.

Watch it in action below. The people desperately trying to get its attention clearly hadn't watched enough horror movies to know what usually happens next in situations with sentient machines.





More info: senster.com

Posted By: Alex - Wed Jan 25, 2023 - Comments (2)
Category: Art, Technology, AI, Robots and Other Automatons, 1970s

Dogs in Uniform

For prices starting at around $400 (converted from £330), you can get an oil painting of your dog in uniform.

No mention of cats in uniform, but I'm guessing that if you're willing to pay for it, they'd be willing to paint it.

More info: Fabulous Masterpieces


Have you ever considered commissioning a dog portrait in uniform? Take a look at Deef the dog above. His owners really wanted an oil painting of their dog painted as the Count of Monte Cristo. And personally, I think it’s come out really well. In fact our paintings of dogs in uniform or having your dogs in costume have become extremely popular, more so than our dog artists ever thought.


Posted By: Alex - Sat Jan 07, 2023 - Comments (1)
Category: Art, Military, Dogs

Is it art, or is it a medical emergency?

London police recently responded to a report of a woman in an art gallery who appeared to be unconscious. The gallery was closed, but the non-moving woman could be seen through a window. So, "officers forced entry to the address, where they uncovered that the person was in fact a mannequin."

The mannequin was part of a sculpture by American artist Mark Jenkins depicting the time his sister had "passed out and buried her face in a plate of soup."

More info: artnet.com

Posted By: Alex - Wed Dec 28, 2022 - Comments (1)
Category: Art, Confusion, Misunderstanding, and Incomprehension

Endogen Depression—Turkeys and TV sets

The art installation "Endogen Depression," by Wolf Vostell, consisted of 30 television sets, partially cast in concrete, and five live turkeys.

Vostell presented this installation once in the U.S., at the Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art, in December 1980.

source: LA Public Library



Text from the LA Times (Dec 17, 1980):

Vostell, an artist of international repute, has a history of casting expensive devices in concrete to "cancel their presence." Television sets are a favorite target, but he once sealed an entire Cadillac in cement in Chicago. At LAICA, some of the sets are dead or completely covered in concrete, but most have at least part of their screen exposed. They drone on and on with soap operas, talk shows and afternoon Westerns...

Vostell means to contrast the sophistication of TVs and turkeys. The birds win handily. He also feels we can learn more from reputedly stupid turkeys than from television, but the comparison may not be a fiar one. The TV drone is so familiar and the programming so low-level, we quickly accept it as easily tuned-out background noise. Turkeys, on the other hand, look downright exotic to city folks who have never encountered one off a serving dish and wearing its feathers.

You can check out a video of the turkeys and TVs from the 1980 event at vimeo.com (embedding was disabled).

Posted By: Alex - Sun Dec 18, 2022 - Comments (2)
Category: Art, Television, 1980s

Sun Ra Cover Art Book

Looks like a great Xmas present for WU-vies.

Here's the publisher's page, with the Amazon link below.





Posted By: Paul - Tue Nov 01, 2022 - Comments (0)
Category: Art, Eccentrics, Holidays, Music, Vinyl Albums and Other Media Recordings, Books

Upside-Down Mondrian

Art historian Susanne Meyer-Büser argues that a 1941 work by Piet Mondrian has been hung upside-down for the past 75 years. The work, made with colored adhesive tape, has traditionally been hung with the closely-spaced bands at the bottom. Meyer-Büser says that these should be at the top, "like a dark sky." A photo of Mondrian's studio from 1944 supports her interpretation.

However, there are no plans to turn the work around, due to its fragile condition.

I'll be adding this to my Gallery of Art Hung Upside-Down.

More info: BBC, Town and Country

The traditional orientation



The correct orientation (according to Meyer-Büser)

Posted By: Alex - Sun Oct 30, 2022 - Comments (6)
Category: Art

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