Regards, Ivan
Posted on 01/23/2003 5:40:00 PM PST by MadIvan
The owner of a toy museum is calling on the public to boycott an art exhibition that features the charred and mutilated bodies of teddy bears.
Deady Bears, which forms part of a wider work entitled A Walk on the Darkside at the Artlounge gallery in Lytham St Anne's, Lancs, features cuddly toys that have been variously dismembered, pierced with 6in nails and daubed with red paint intended to resemble blood.
Irena Thompson, who runs the nearby Toy and Teddy Bear Museum, is outraged.
"This exhibition is simply dreadful, and I do not see what the artist is trying to express or achieve," she said yesterday.
"People look upon teddy bears as friends and life-long companions, and it is not at all nice to see them used as what can only be described as bizarre voodoo dolls. Teddy bear lovers, young and old, will be horrified, by this so-called art."
Sam Shearon, the 24-year-old artist, said the inspiration for his work came from seeing his own teddy bears' eyes lit up by the headlights of passing cars when he was a child.
"It used to terrify me, and my mum had to turn them round to face the wall. This is payback time, but if people say the bears are gruesome then that's fair enough.
"They are obviously not pretty pieces of art, but then I'm not interested in making things that are easy on the eye."
Nicola Thompson, the gallery's owner, said many of the public had been fascinated by the exhibition.
"They may think Sam is a bit strange and in need of some psychiatric help, but the exhibition is meant to be thought-provoking."
The exhibition runs until Feb 6.
Regards, Ivan
The horror. The horror!
True, but he's not as nuts as the folks who gave the guy a huge cash prize for "Room with lights blinking on and off" or whatever he called that piece of crap.
Mangled stuffed animals, the Mona Lisa or the Sistine Chapel, it's all the same rubbish.
Art is devalued. Wow, yeah, really makes me think.
There are people that support this bit of "performance art" as it was called (and have the audacity to link Christianity with the WTC attack).
Roast Attendees Take Umbrage With Stunt By Penn & Teller -article on their sacrilegious stunt
Lighten up.
Monday night on "Monster Garage" on the Discovery Channel in prime time, they threw a teddy bear into a Tree Chipper.
These are presumably the artists Teddy Bears.
Slashing toys is not sacreligious, nor does it mock, humiliate or incite to violence against any individual or group.
Let's save our outrage for important things, or at least semi-important things.
So9
Such things happen in the art world all the time; someone bought a Picasso print and cut it into 1 inch squares for sale for a fraction of what the original cost. Look at celebrity clothing auctions (costumes/uniforms) are also cut into 1"square and smaller pieces.
The buyer can do with the items what he wants. If tax dollars are paying for this art, then tax payers have a right to be outraged. It's "dumb" art to be sure.
On the whole, "teddy bear" enthusiasts should find bigger things to get outraged about in this world.
I saw an article on a Yao Ming fansite that took offense (rightly so) at Shaq's pseudo-Chinese insult (ESPN used this audio even in their buildup to the confrontational game). It's trash-talking but it's also racist (if a white player gave some quote in ebonics he'd be strung up by the press). That said, the guy's website obsessed over every attempt by a player to get the ball from Yao (play by play details of Yao's role in every game).
Ask Shatner said to the Trekkies on SNL: "Get a life!"
FREE SNUGGLES
This is stupid, ugly and cruel.
Absolutely agreed. But that guy who puts human corpses in formaldahyde and puts them on show isn't hurtin' no one either, eh?
Nor the artist who paints abortions, eh?
Indeed the one who made a packet from showing a filthy bedroom was an 'artist' too.
WOW...such art! Such freedom of expression.
These people get PUBLIC (yeah, remember the tax payer?) funding for producing rank awful CRAPOLA!!!
AND we, are supposed to stand up and applaud????
Me arse!
(BTW..you try to take my childhood comforter..my bear 'Little Ted' and pull his head off..YOU are in trouble, Bubba!!! He's MY bear, and no-one touches the memories he instills when I pick him up!!!)
"Boy, I sure would like some media attention, some fame and maybe some money. As much money as I can get. What can I do that's sick, outrageous and "new" enough to attract attention, without putting me in jail? I know! That's it! I'll mutilate teddy bears!!!"
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