Art major Aliza Shvarts ’08 wants to make a statement.
Well see, that's the problem right there.
Not that she wants to make a statement, although I think there is a tendency for Art that wants first and foremost to make a Statement to be not so good. The problem is (I strongly suspect) that she started off wanting to make "a statement". That is, she had no idea what she wanted to say at first, so she fished around for some statement that seemed Important, and that she could say very loudly and artistically.
It's a senior project, so I guess that's sort of to be expected. She's basically been told, "find a statement and make it by the end of the term."
I could be totally misinterpreting things, of course.
Who knows? I just posted the link at a forum where the traditional liberal/conservative argument lines are the prevailing past time. I guarantee you it will inspire "discourse".
Bigend is already in touch with her.
Space must flow past the ports like wine from a pitcher
Posts: 3588 | Location: Spokane, WA | Registered: August 11, 2007
"It is a gruesome and macabre display that, contrary to the 'artist's' assertion, was likely contrived because of its shock value," Echevarria said.
"This is just unbelievably macabre. I mean, how does someone do this not only to their own body but to the lives she kept creating and then aborting. How do you lose your sense of humanity to do such a thing?" Echevarria added.
As far as I'm concerned, I prefer silent vice to ostentatious virtue. -Albert Einstein
Posts: 18673 | Location: my happy place. | Registered: February 17, 2004
And when told about Shvarts’ project, students on both ends of the abortion debate have expressed shock — saying the project does everything from violate moral code to trivialize abortion.
It wasn't funny in The Sarah Silverman Program. But this sounds just lame.
Posts: 6286 | Location: Mexico City, Mexico | Registered: January 11, 2003
I almost posted earlier something similar to Warren Ellis' take on this: It's likely to be fake, and whether it's fake or not, it's pretty likely the press release and "controversy" is part of the piece. On the other hand, I don't think, even if this is true, that she's doing anything worthy of a great deal of praise. It's either a publicity stunt, and therefore basically a platform for her ego, or she honestly thinks she's making "a statement", in which case it is basically a platform for her ego. Charlie Stross' comparison to Damien Hirst seems quite appropriate. Fake or not, it's art-wankery at its finest, and she's sure to go on to do "great" things.
Oh, another interesting possibility raised by Mr. Stross in the comments to Mr. Ellis' post:
quote:
As a friend of mine pointed out, it’s possible she’s a shill for the “pro life” crowd in the USA, trying to portray morning-after abortifacients in the worst possible light with the goal of getting them banned (or at least moved to prescription-only status).
Remember, the young earth creationists aren’t above funding gullible young fanatics to work through geology PhD programs so that they can claim to have gen-yoo-wine geological scientists on their side.
How typical of some uninspired art student to do this. Do you ever think that perhaps all the art schools around the world are teaching the WRONG way of making art? I'd argue the need to stop all of the controversial crap for the sake of establishment. Ultimately they are just selling out on important issues. This is mainly why I hate the art world. It worked for Dada but it won't work now - so just fucking stop it.
Ms. Shvarts is engaged in performance art. Her art project includes visual representations, a press release and other narrative materials. She stated to three senior Yale University officials today, including two deans, that she did not impregnate herself and that she did not induce any miscarriages. The entire project is an art piece, a creative fiction designed to draw attention to the ambiguity surrounding form and function of a woman’s body.
She is an artist and has the right to express herself through performance art.
Had these acts been real, they would have violated basic ethical standards and raised serious mental and physical health concerns.
-Dimensions Art Blog
I had a smidgen of respect for somebody willing to go through that sort of personal, physical horror to make an artistic statement, whatever that might have been...
But to fake it? That's nothing... that's a fart in the wind... teaching nobody nuthin'... what a wuss.
I think she should have to really do it now... to really consider her 'statement'.
________________________ What else would hunters do?
Originally posted by colin: it's pretty likely the press release and "controversy" is part of the piece.
quote:
Originally posted by Warren Ellis: But right now, I think the press release itself is the art piece.
If pushing people's buttons is art, I'm going to start whipping out a sharpie and signing the foreheads of the various people I leave red-faced or rolling-eyed over the course of the work week.
Andy Warhol, Damien Hirst, Richard Prince, and this girl can all go screw themselves. I'm not going to argue about whether or not it's art, but I will argue that, regardless of whether or not it is art, it is stupid. It isn't going to highlight any ambiguity, and it isn't going to start any discourse or dialog. Saying this is art is like saying Put 'Em on the Glass is poetry. It may be technically correct, but that doesn't make it Hamlet.
regardless of whether or not it is art, it is stupid.
Agreed.
Oh, from the Wikipedia article about Damien Hirst
quote:
In July 1988 in his second year at Goldsmiths College, Hirst was the main organiser of an independent student exhibition [...] The show was visited by Charles Saatchi, Norman Rosenthal and (Sir) Nicholas Serota, thanks to the influence of Goldsmiths' lecturer Michael Craig-Martin. Hirst's own contribution to the show consisted of a cluster of cardboard boxes painted with household paint.
The issue here, for me, is that people who aren't talented shouldn't make art. This whole idea just reeks of that juvenile, pretentious, film/art school party crowd who get more into the culture of validating each other's nonsense than they do into the actual artistic process.
Art isn't supposed to provoke questions, it's supposed to disclose something essential about existence. She's doing politics.
Posts: 8215 | Location: The Doghouse (again) | Registered: February 20, 2003
The issue here, for me, is that people who aren't talented shouldn't make art. This whole idea just reeks of that juvenile, pretentious, film/art school party crowd who get more into the culture of validating each other's nonsense than they do into the actual artistic process.
Art isn't supposed to provoke questions, it's supposed to disclose something essential about existence. She's doing politics.
You're right. Untalented people should be art critics. Or, better yet, people who think they have talent and know good art should ignore stuff like this?
But then, perhaps sneering cultural gossip is an art form?
Let's go spray paint some subways. I feel an itch to be creative.
Space must flow past the ports like wine from a pitcher
Posts: 3588 | Location: Spokane, WA | Registered: August 11, 2007
Originally posted by UberDog: The issue here, for me, is that people who aren't talented shouldn't make art. This whole idea just reeks of that juvenile, pretentious, film/art school party crowd who get more into the culture of validating each other's nonsense than they do into the actual artistic process.
Art isn't supposed to provoke questions, it's supposed to disclose something essential about existence. She's doing politics.
Uber you said EXACTLY what I was thinking. The art crowd will do that regardless - they define art so that the "common" man cannot understand it. They have to be so cryptic about everything which is just stupid. What good is art if no one can enjoy it. Obviously the art galleries belong to the Eurotrash - as does the industry and the schools. And yet we all stand here wondering what the fuck is going on? because they just go about creating such bullshit hurdles to try and stop people embracing art. Its just bullshit.
