Is Art Dead; Do Cannibals like Sugar?

[david eubank]

Ok I was reading Kurt Vonnegut, so blame him he is dead you know. Besides it is cold outside, 2degrees now up from 20 below.

Vonnegut said that the only thing we can agree on today is “Sugar is Sweet”. That there are no new ideas only recycled ones. And we won’t all agree on that for sure. So today, are there any new ideas new images or should we just quite and enjoy the reproductions of the past. I mean is there a curator or anyone else out there that could recognize a new idea? With all of the periods of art we know so well and now Raw Meat hanging on the most prestigious gallery walls around the world is there anything not done. Is no idea new, only a variation of it’s the theme.

Should we give sugar to the cannibals and pay to show our art, pay to have someone look at our art. What is the idea fairness for you the Artist?

I like Van Gogh because nobody during his time recognized his genius except Theo and perhaps the Postman. And boy doesn’t Kirk Douglas really make you believe he was Van Gogh.

The point is this, will the greatest art produced today go un-noticed un-scene by our generation. Missed by the prejudice of knowledge about what is art today what is important.

Do you really think, believe that sugar is sweet?


Oh and by the way Van Gogh holds the record for the most sold reproductions of any artist and he never sold a thing while alive making art.

Does he know how successful he is, is his spirit out there watching? I hope so I really hope so.

[Roger W Povey]

Is sugar sweet, it's all a matter of taste.

[Tucker]

David, you goof, It is sub zero in Eastern Montana. My aged legs just barely work and my attitude has gone to hell in a hand bag but not once have I considered dragging out the "origional thought" conundrum.

We think that sugar is sweet. We think stevia is sweet, unless you go overboard, then it becomes bitter. We think that aspartane is sweet but I will kill you (it's always something). Most people, in Amerika believe that democracy works. I believe that I will remain a socialist and that zombies are the top of the food chain. Somewhere in the north country, there is an idiot seeing how far he can hit a golf ball in sub-zero temperatures. He probably thinks it is an origional idea but it has been done by some other idiot.

I can only address my art and , Hmmmmm.......welll.....yep! it has all been inspired by people that have gone before and that my friend is an origional thought or at least has given me a headache. Thank you very much and Elvis wasn't the first person to have sad that. Sometimes he said "thank you, thank you very much".

Friend, Tucker

[david eubank]

Hey Tucker,
Cold is the norm today with a touch of wind and my old body shares your feelings, oh. I have been thinking of getting psychiatric help to figure out why I live up here in the north. Maybe it’s because I am beginning to look a lot like Santa, fat and grey well white beard and hair. God, lucky we are, to be so old you know. Yeah you know I never liked sugar or anything too sweet myself. And all of the sub-sugars taste awful. I guess what I hope is that the mind set of artists change and realize their value. We need to stop enabling those who would exploit us. It is for sure difficult and many artists will never realize their true success or worth in todays society. I do think that the new world will be a mix of socialism and capitalism it will be something new, maybe not thought of before a hybrid if you will. Waiting for change is the hard part; it is like living the life of an artist. When we look back at any particular artist, we only see a small snap shot of the length of their life and career. But like any life there are highs and lows. I personally hope that art will return to an everyday role in the lives of our society. That it will once again become the fabric that holds us together. Like ancient peoples, art as a functional part of living. And it is in many ways for the younger generation with the connection to the media, the Iphone. Ok so it is the cold weather. Any way I hope you are staying warm and enjoying the day. My work outside is done for now, until Barbara tells me to go move more snow. Just got off the phone with my son he is in Seattle, he says it snowed there last night and is snowing now. So you know what we are going to be doing in 24 hours. I think your art is fun, it makes me feel happy. So how goes the building?

[Caril Chasens]

Hello from western Canada, 56 degrees north, -20F.

Sugar sweet? I read recently that a very small percentage of people have, not the usual three color receptors, which center their sensitivity on red-green-blue, but but that they actually have four... if I remember correctly, an extra one a little further to the violet. So, some people may have color perception that is profoundly different. And, perhaps some people have a very different perception of taste. To them, sugar might taste frumulous or even arquine.

Originality in art going unnoticed... I HOPE that with the fast pace of change nowadays, that the situation could change... hope, hope, hope.....

[Tucker]

Hey David,

I have spent the week-end contemplating the death of art as we know it. When I say "as we know it" I'm talking about old farts like you and I. Glenna and I spent Christmas with a family of perfectly nice people except for their lack of human interaction. I'm sure that has an effect on human relationship with art.

They have three boys, ages from 24 to thirty. The entire holiday was spent attached to a controller of some sort, with their eyes on a screen. Not just the boys but the entire family. The entirety of the three days was spent in the pursuit of gaming, computing or watching movies on the on the HDTV projector.

I play guiter and some keyboard. They play rock band. It is an interactive game where guitar shaped and drum shaped controllers follow marks on a screen while animated avatars of your character act out your skills. It is a competition to determine who wins and gets paid the most, in your electronic band.

I suppose I should address the "art collection" in the home but first, the house itself. To their credit, they did buy a cool old church and have spent two years converting it into a residence, that being said, it is the contents that gives me pause. There are display cabinets in every corner. They contain a wide assortment of cast resin and molded plastic, Star Wars characters, dolls, Star Trek characters and replicas of every imaginable pop culture icon and dust collector on the planet. The most prominently displayed are the assortment of projectors, game consoles, computers and controllers that are placed within easy reach of any seating area in the house. They have a thirty foot screen (that's right, I said thirty foot) on which to play, display or watch any of their assorted amusements. As you might guess, the framed pieces are posters and prints of ........well, I don't need to say.

Art is communication. It can give pause, anger us, make us laugh and make us want to change the world in which we live. It requires human interaction and without it or with the addition of corporate backing it becomes just another sterile, ineffectual marketing plan, turning the consumer into zombies, willing participants in the decline of civilization. We play video war games manufactured by corporate whores. We fight real wars manufactured by political whores and the innocents that are lost in the fray feel less human. It's just another video game and the zombies are sub-human. It is as easy as pushing a button. Has art, for the masses, become the push of a button or something that can be bought at Wal-Mart. "This week-end only! sofa sized paintings on sale at prices you can't believe. Starting at only $39.95 in colors sure to match any decor."

I don't have many answers but I continue to add to my collection of questions. Come to think about it, look how you and I met and how we are communicating. You're not a zombie are you?





david eubank said:

Hey Tucker,
Cold is the norm today with a touch of wind and my old body shares your feelings, oh. I have been thinking of getting psychiatric help to figure out why I live up here in the north. Maybe it’s because I am beginning to look a lot like Santa, fat and grey well white beard and hair. God, lucky we are, to be so old you know. Yeah you know I never liked sugar or anything too sweet myself. And all of the sub-sugars taste awful. I guess what I hope is that the mind set of artists change and realize their value. We need to stop enabling those who would exploit us. It is for sure difficult and many artists will never realize their true success or worth in todays society. I do think that the new world will be a mix of socialism and capitalism it will be something new, maybe not thought of before a hybrid if you will. Waiting for change is the hard part; it is like living the life of an artist. When we look back at any particular artist, we only see a small snap shot of the length of their life and career. But like any life there are highs and lows. I personally hope that art will return to an everyday role in the lives of our society. That it will once again become the fabric that holds us together. Like ancient peoples, art as a functional part of living. And it is in many ways for the younger generation with the connection to the media, the Iphone. Ok so it is the cold weather. Any way I hope you are staying warm and enjoying the day. My work outside is done for now, until Barbara tells me to go move more snow. Just got off the phone with my son he is in Seattle, he says it snowed there last night and is snowing now. So you know what we are going to be doing in 24 hours. I think your art is fun, it makes me feel happy. So how goes the building?

[david eubank]

Hey Tucker,

You make some very interesting points and it requires some deep thought about art today to sort out today from our past experience. Yes, we both use the technology of today to communicate. It the technology has brought us together with the rest of the world and who knows maybe others out there in the space-time continuum. I guess, if I look at the computer gaming today and other entertainment activities objectively this is what I think, but its just an old mans view. The individual gets to participate, interact with the media. The viewer is no longer a by-stander. The subject matter is another issue, War, Murder, you name it is today’s entertainment. No longer do you have to practice for years, hours a day to be a Rock Star. Gratification is instant and the viewer is or has become clueless about the process lost in the new world of technology. Nevertheless, the viewer is in the game, participating. However, the content has limitations and soon the viewer becomes bored, boxed into those limitations. Does the viewer know why, no because the creativity has been already figured out and he or she has limited their personal creativity to those boundaries. So they go bigger and better and on and on. Wouldn’t be interesting to make an interactive, game painting, something where the viewer had to interact and make creative decisions that would lead to an original outcome.

I myself don’t play computer games, they bore me. And war well I’ve had enough war in my life time to last for several more. I think it is all part of a plan, planned or not to desensitize the population to violence. But few people who play these violent games would like to participate in a real violent game environment without limits and safe controls don’t you agree. I mean if your enemy can shoot back and kill you would you want to play that game.

And TV, how many hours have we all lost watching that monster and how many commercials? But I must say at my age, larger images screens are better, I don’t see as well as I once did and oh yeah I am ready for the headphone things so I don’t bother the neighbors with sound up so high. But no we just have an old model TV that will stop working in February, will I upgrade, probably not. I can still watch movies without commercials from the DVD or old style VCR. It is like vinyl, most kids don’t know record album’s. How much great music passed with the advent of new technology, but the Mona Lisa still hangs on the wall and millions of people go to see her just hanging there every year.

Yeah and I am still snow bound with more coming how bout you. Hey, what are you New Year predictions? Look at Dave’s psychic predictions and tell everybody yours.

[Tucker]

Enough war indeed, Vietnam, class of 66. I fought it and have spent my life protesting anything that resembles war for profit and political gain. I guess I will give Obama the benefit of the doubt. We will see.

As for the snow, what the hell. I have chosen to live in Montana and I suppose that snow is all part of the package. As for predictions....well, I just hope to disappoint less and be less disappointed. I predict that I will art more and TV less. I predict that I will not get younger and I suspect that if the last few years are any indication I will find new places that hurt and more reasons to make strange noises when I stand up. I predict that Amerika will become green when the corporations own and develop green technology.

Don't you suppose that Mona Lisa would like a change of scenery?

[david eubank]

Hey Tucker,
Well the snow turned to rain!.. and I wish it was snow, what a mess. Lost the side yard to snow slides off the roof for the rest of winter now, it’s buried. Speaking of Zombies I watched a documentary on Zombies living, well living dead in America, called American Zombie. Very funny. Well, we will see what Obama can do, it appears that the current administration is working hard to make his first term very difficult. But change is hard and re-birth is painful and so it goes. I don’t know if you get into Hopi Philosophy, but this I think this is the Fourth big shake. I can email you the prophecy if you would like it.

[david eubank]

Hey Caril, Man you are way out there in the wilderness. Hope is eternal as they say. Look at my other discussion on predictions for 2009 and tell us what you predict. Did you get a lot of snow up your way too? Great website too by the way.
David


Caril Chasens said:

Hello from western Canada, 56 degrees north, -20F.

Sugar sweet? I read recently that a very small percentage of people have, not the usual three color receptors, which center their sensitivity on red-green-blue, but but that they actually have four... if I remember correctly, an extra one a little further to the violet. So, some people may have color perception that is profoundly different. And, perhaps some people have a very different perception of taste. To them, sugar might taste frumulous or even arquine.

Originality in art going unnoticed... I HOPE that with the fast pace of change nowadays, that the situation could change... hope, hope, hope.....

[david eubank]

Hey Roger, Yes taste is a big part of it, but tastes change with experience wouldn’t you agree. So I guess we all need to keep looking for new experiences.

Roger W Povey said:

Is sugar sweet, it's all a matter of taste.