Posted on 06/15/2006 8:14:28 AM PDT by azemt
LONDON (Reuters) - One of Britain's most prestigious art galleries put a block of slate on display, topped by a small piece of wood, in the mistaken belief it was a work of art.
The Royal Academy included the chunk of stone and the small bone-shaped wooden stick in its summer exhibition in London.
But the slate was actually a plinth -- a slab on which a pedestal is placed -- and the stick was designed to prop up a sculpture. The sculpture itself -- of a human head -- was nowhere to be seen.
"I think the things got separated in the selection process and the selectors presented the plinth as a complete sculpture," the work's artist David Hensel told BBC radio.
The academy explained the error by saying the plinth and the head were sent to the exhibitors separately.
"Given their separate submission, the two parts were judged independently," it said in a statement. "The head was rejected. The base was thought to have merit and accepted.
"The head has been safely stored ready to be collected by the artist," it added. "It is accepted that works may not be displayed in the way that the artist might have intended."
So much for "modern art"! BWAHAHAHAHA!
BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA!
Talk about an oxymoron :)
plinth
From Wiktionary
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English
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Etymology
From Greek ðëéíèïò (plinthos), brick or tile
[edit]
Noun
A block or slab upon which a column, pedestal, or statue is based.
The bottom course of stones or bricks supporting a wall.
A base or pedestal beneath a cabinet.
Retrieved from "http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/plinth"
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Plinth
I thought the link would show a picture of the plinth...all I saw was a nekkid lady...
The plinth now on display is at BOTTOM
I guess the two pieces look quite similar, hence the confusion.....
Much modern art is actually just the art of marketing.
Source for above post:
Empty plinth sidelines sculpture
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/southern_counties/5081744.stm
There's a sucker born every minute.
Dorick? Tuscan? Corbusieck?
Poppycock. It WAS art.
Putting it in a gallery or museum MAKES it art. Just ask artists who sold things like urinals, bicycle seats, and display hooks as "art".
It is the context that makes it art. Not the item.
Such is the world of ANTIart.
Now I would say that such cons are lousy investments. You have been sold "new clothes" and the only worth (especially since there is no "creation") is what you can convince someone else to pay. So while the artist may have had a great sales pitch, the art buyer must try to tell the same joke.
I'm sure the defenders of modern "art" will be along to explain this, somehow ...
And the same goes for modern "music".
This reminds me of the Steven Wright joke where he walks into the ladies' room at a museum. When confronted he says, "I'm sorry, I thought it was an exhibit."
If an unmade bed in an empty room is "art", then just about anything is. I'll leave my shoes and dirty socks in a pile and when my wife tells me to clean it up, I'll inform her that it's a sculpture.
thanks for finding that picture...
June 15 2006 at 02:46PM
London - Like most British artists, David Hensel thought that the opportunity to exhibit at the Royal Academy's prestigious summer exhibition would send his career soaring.
Instead, the 61-year-old sculptor was bemused to find that his laughing human head has been left out of the exhibit. All that is on display is its plinth.
Officials said Hensel had submitted the head and the plinth separately -and they had preferred the plinth.
"The base was thought to have merit and accepted; it is currently on display," the Royal Academy said in a statement. "The head has been safely stored ready to be collected by the artist."
On Thursday the Academy held out hope that the head may ultimately be exhibited, saying curators still have to make a final decision.
Hensel took it in stride.
"I've seen the funny side but I've also seen the philosophical side ... It shows up not just the tastes of the selectors but also their unawareness," said Hensel, who belongs to the Royal British Society of Sculptors and teaches sculpture at University College in Chichester, southern England.
The head, which is carved from jesmonite, took Hensel two months to create. The plinth, cut from an old mortuary slab, took one day.
"I submitted the thing as one sculpture but the bits weren't bolted together so they must have become separated," Hensel mused.
"I like the plinth as an object. I just never thought of it as a sculpture in its own right."
"What pleases me, though, is that it gives a lot of people the chance to think about what art is."
The summer exhibition runs through Aug. 20.
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?from=rss_World&set_id=1&click_id=&art_id=qw1150374780784B216
I would love to read the critiques on this work!
Some "artist" recenty had a display of post-modern art at a gallery. The janitor threw it away because he thought someone dropped some trash on the floor.
it is explained..in the above post
It is worse than that..the museum directors decided that his plith was better than his head....can they do that?
Picasso's servant while clearing Picasso's dinner table: "What shall I do with all these fish bones, sir?"
Picasso: "Put them in the kiln. Someone will buy them."
art ping
British artist, David Hensel: "I like the plinth as an object. I just never thought of it as a sculpture in its own right."
"What pleases me, though, is that it gives a lot of people the chance to think about what art is."
Yep, Mr. Hensel, I've been thinking about it, too. On any given day you can sell anyone anything.
Or, nail two things together and some schmuck will buy it from you. [vintage George Carlin]
Now, if the exhibit were placed near a drinking fountain, and then photographed at just the right angle, the waterflow would appear to jet from the mouth of the head.
We could call it "The Gargler."
That's exactly what Andy Warhol kept trying to tell us, over, and over again.
Your picture is worth 1000 words....;)
The Emperor has no clothes.
Its really funny that the artist was actually pleased at the mix up - what a bunch of maroons!
;^)
Yes. Guess it wouldn't be in his best interest to criticize the museum staff. He has to have a some place to display his work.
Call the piece, "Irony".
Modern Art, like much popular music, has sunk so low it can longer be parodied. There is no "there" there to mock.
Better than that, I have a camper!
throw some brightly colored sheets over the Microsoft founder's family and call it "The Gates".
what a farce.
That like having your painting accepted but they keep the frame and throw away the artwork.
Did you notice that the title of the nekkid lady is "Virgin Mother"?
''Hey, honey, would you mind if we got a camper?''
''But you hate camping.''
''Well, it would be just in case...''
;^)
Modern art is a screaming, idiotic mess.
Just goes to show how men and kids wreak havoc on the old bod...but what a way to go!
LexBaird, thanks for the ping. I'll art ping the list.
The head wasn't a great work of art, but the fact that the curators saw merit in the plinth alone is rather pathetic.
You wrote, "The head wasn't a great work of art, but the fact that the curators saw merit in the plinth alone is rather pathetic."
You can't blame the curators overmuch. They've been conditioned to ignore things like aesthetic merit, intrinsic beauty, objective truth, and plain old technical mastery.
If anything is art, nothing is.
They already did ...
"It is accepted that works may not be displayed in the way that the artist might have intended."
This is as bad as the 'display' itself. Indeed, the Emperor is naked as a blue jay...
This puts me in mind of an artist, years ago, that entered a white sculpture in a local show = it went on to win that and subsequent until it won the National.
As the artist was brought forth to explain his piece - which had no title - he said: "It's a salt block I took out of the cow pasture. So much for your modern art." He had proved his point.
But anyway, now we artists don't need bother actually creating a piece...just send in the base...
The hilarious part is the plinth was accepted and the artwork was rejected... that has to make the artist feel all tingly inside! =^D
Not that I'd consider it high art, but I actually kinda like the head! Plus, it seems appropos to the thread... I might use it in the future for a "Bwahahahaha!" comment.
>> Did you notice that the title of the nekkid lady is "Virgin Mother"? <<
O my, it's grotesque!
"Don't you be saying stuff 'bout my mutha!" -- Jesus
Wow.
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